The Potions Assistant
by Macklynn
Summary: After the strange surrounding or her father's arrest to Azkaban, Dia Diamond comes to Hogwarts to look after her brother. She becomes assistant to Snape, and finds out he's more than an evil professor...
1. Default Chapter

CHAPTER ONE  
  
The news had spread across the Hogwarts staff like wildfire. Many still could not believe it as they stood in a huddle in Albus Dumbledore's office.  
  
Professor Flitwick looked at the headline in The Daily Prophet and then to Dumbledore again, who sat behind his desk. Flitwick shook his head. "I still can't believe it. Arthur Diamond. I mean, Arthur Diamond. I still don't believe he could have done something like this."  
  
Dumbledore looked strangely somber. "I can't either, Professor. But it's true."  
  
Professor McGonagall shook her head in disbelief and connected her gaze with Dumbledore's. "But Arthur was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher we ever had here at Hogwarts!"  
  
Murmurs of agreement rippled though the staff.  
  
McGonagall continued. "He taught the subject with so much passion. The passion that drove his hatred against He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named. I still cannot believe it. What could have changed his will?"  
  
Silence filled the room, as the staff pondered this very question. Of course, the sarcastic, rather edgy voice in the back of the group answered: "It was the same passion that drove him away from You-Know-Who that drove him to You-Know-Who."  
  
Every eye in the room turned towards Severus Snape. Snape wasn't jolted at all by this reaction. He simply continued. "Perhaps he came across the idea that he wasn't getting anything done rallying against You-Know-Who. No power. With You-Know-Who, he could have all the power he could possibly want--but the wrong kind of power. It would take a powerful force to alter the will of Arthur Diamond. But You-Know-Who has that power. 'Tis a pity Arthur didn't realize the consequences--being sent to Azkaban and given the Kiss of Death."  
  
A sheet of quiet descended on the room as the staff soaked in what Snape had just said. If was quite a few moments before Professor Spout spoke up, rather softly: "How is Dunner taking this?"  
  
Madame Pomfrey let out a sniffle.  
  
Dumbledore looked saddened by this question. "Poor Dunner Diamond...He will be taken out of his classes for a while..."  
  
"Such a pity. The boy is so young. He has no one now..." McGonagall whispered.  
  
Professor Binns suddenly looked like a revelation struck him. "What about his sister?"  
  
More murmurs rippled though the staff.  
  
"Dia," Dumbledore stated.  
  
"Dialeste Diamond. I remember her," McGonagall replied, nodding her head.  
  
Spout shook her head. "Don't even remember the girl. Arthur had a daughter?"  
  
McGonagall nodded her head yet again. "Yes, I remember. She was a Gryffindor, in my house. Dratted quiet thing she was. Hid behind big glasses and all her books. Not very good in Transfiguration, but if I remembered right she was rather excellent in Potions."  
  
All eyes in the room once again turned to Snape. He just snorted, as though saying that he had never had a good potions pupil--let alone an excellent one.  
  
This time, Madame Pomfrey took over the conversation. "Girl was part veela, was she not?"  
  
Madame Hooch piped in: "I remember the contraversy Arthur created when he married that veela..."  
  
"I would have remembered if I would have had a veela in my class..." Snape sneered.  
  
Many rolled there eyes at him and ignored his comment.  
  
"What ever happened to the girl, Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall inquired.  
  
Dumbledore sighed and shrugged. "Arthur wanted her to take over his position as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher here when he retired, but Dia refused when she graduated from Hogwarts. She got a job at the Ministry of Magic. Was rather horrible at it, you see. She had much talent, but she never showed up for work. After, now what was her name...? Oh, yes, when Andromena, her mother, died, Arthur became more obsessed with his work and his intent was raising Dunner, who was just born before Andromena died, to follow in his footsteps. They say Dia just stopped coming to work one day. No one worried for a while, since she never came anyway. After a while they declared her missing and she hadn't been heard from since."  
  
"Then it's been what, like four years since she vanished?" Flitwick asked.  
  
"Five," Dumbledore corrected.  
  
"Arthur went rather insane after his wife died, if I daresay. I don't think he even realized that his own daughter was missing," McGonagall said, with a tone of resentment in her voice.  
  
The staff was silent until Dumbledore broke it by ordering, "Well, one things for certain, we must find Dia Diamond and bring her to Hogwarts--for Dunner's sake." 


	2. Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO  
  
Dia Diamond had read and reead the article in The Daily Prophet until her vision hurt. She still couldn't believe what she read.  
  
ARTHUR DIAMOND TRIED AS DEATH EATER  
  
Arthur C. Diamond was tried as a Death Eater last week and was sentenced to Azkaban and the Kiss of Death. Diamond, a respectable and passionate man, was once the Defense Against the Dark Teacher at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was also one of the forerunners of the campagn to destroy He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named. Many put their trust in Diamond, and were stunned when last week a plot was intercepted that a band of Death Eaters were going to have a rally. Mauraders from the Light Side went to the spot where the Death Eaters were to be and stopped them from doing any harm. All were brought into custody and charged. But the suprise came when one Death Eater was unmasked and it was none other that of Arthur Diamond. Diamond was tried and claimed that he got more satisfaction of serving the Dark Side than he ever did the Light Side. Diamond was sentenced to Azkaban, and two nights ago was given the Kiss of Death by one of the Dementors of Azkaban, which took  
his soul. Diamond was survived by his son, Dunner A. Diamond, 11, a first-year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and his daughter, Dialeste D. Diamond, believed to be 22. Dialeste vanished with out a trace five years ago, shortly after her mother, Andromena Diamond, died. She hasn't been seen since. The other Death Eaters tried also, names withheald, were given the same sentence as Diamond.  
  
Dia dropped the paper onto the table in front of her and twisted her long blonde ponytail furiously.  
  
Disappeared, they say. And with out a trace! Because of my mother's death? Ha! If they would have only known the reason. Respectable and passionate man, ba! Maybe on the outside, but they didn't know the real Arthur Diamond. I did... And what is this of Dunner. It must be awful for him, being at Hogwarts with family, no one to comfort him. Probably doesn't even remember that he has a sister. But Dumbledore most likely does. Probably will get an owl begging me to come and see Dunner. I wish I could, little brother, but I think it's best of me not to come out of hiding.  
  
Dia sighed and, rolling up the paper, paid the waitress her tip, pushed in her chair, and got lost in the street full of Muggles.  
  
*******  
  
The duty had been given to Severus Snape to write the letter asking Dia Diamond to come to Hogwarts and see her brother.  
  
Dumbledore had first enlisted Professor McGonagall in penning th plea, but she thought that Snape should write it for the girl had been such an excellent Potions student. Snape, seeing no other possible way of getting out of it, grudgily wrote the letter, and gave it to Dumbledore to proofread. The same day, with out any corrections, Hogwarts best carrier owl, a snowy named Pickles, was in flight with the daunting task of finding Dia Diamond.  
  
*******  
  
A week and one quarter later, as Dia Diamond sat outside the cafe' eating lunch, a letter fell onto the plate which held the hamburger she was eating. Dia knew what it was before she even looked up and saw the owl (which, by the way, was causing quite a stir. For you see, Muggles rarely see owls during the night, let alone broad daylight.)  
  
Dia grumbled "So you found me" as she flipped the letter over and saw the familiar Hogwarts wax seal. She ripped it open and unfolded the yellow parchment. The scrawling handwriting read:  
  
Dialeste Diamond  
  
Wherever She May Be  
  
Miss Diamond,  
  
It is requested that as soon as possible that you come at once to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Due to the recent events surrounding your father, we ask that you come to your brother Dunner Dimond's side. If you decide to, please send your response by owl and come as quickly as you may. The owl will most likely get here before you will. If you don't, well, all the luck for Mr. Diamond. You are expected.  
  
Professor Severus S. Snape,  
  
Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
  
Dia laid the request down and furrowed her brow, glancing at the snowyowl who was standing next to he plate, with its head cocked.  
  
"Oh, how did you find me?" she snapped to the owl. The owl only hooted and started to pick at her food.  
  
She sighed and pushed her thick glasses up.  
  
"Why was it that Snape wrote the letter?" Dia asked the owl, which was finishing off her hamburger.  
  
"Hogwarts. I haven't been there in ages." A thin smile crept onto Dia's lips. "It's funny to think that Dunner is only a first year. Still has six years ahead of him... Wonder how he likes it." A shadow was cast over her face. "Defense Against the Dark Arts. I wonder what the new teacher is like? I had to have my own father teach me. Arthur Diamond..."  
  
The owl hooted once again and Dia was shaken out of her thoughts. It looked very content with it's meal and gazed at Dia with its huge yellow eyes.  
  
Dia sighed.  
  
"I don't want to go. It's not safe. I shouldn't go."  
  
Pickles the owl hooted again.  
  
"But, I fancy if you found me now you could find me anywhere. You'd always find me, wouldn't you?"  
  
Pickles blinked.  
  
Dia let out a tremendous sigh as she searched herself for a pen. She found one and scrawled a short message on the parchment. Once again, she tied it to the owl's leg.  
  
"There you go," she said. "Tell them all that I'll be there. I don't know why, but I'll be there."  
  
The owl hooted a final time, and after spreading out it's wings, took off into the air. Dia watched it until she could see it no more. After paying, she got up and pushed her chair in.  
  
"I'm going back to Hogwarts," she said, smiling nonetheless, and, not noticing the perplexed stares from the others around her, went home to collect her belongings. 


	3. Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE  
  
"Cannot anyone tell me what happens when you mix ragsweed and ground tripes bones together?" Severus Snape's voice cut glass through the dank dungeons.  
  
As usual, Hermione Granger's hand was waving wildy in the air.  
  
"If I see that arm in the air once more, Miss Granger, I will amputate it!" Snape snarled.  
  
Hermione's face turned a dark shade of crimson and she slowly lowered her hand. The Slytherins burst into sniggers.  
  
Snape paced the front row of students, letting his hard gaze linger on them--until he saw Neville Longbottom shaking in his seat.  
  
"LONGBOTTOM!" he thundered, causing half the class, especially Neville, to jump in their seats. "What happens when ragsweed and ground tripe bones are together mixed?"  
  
Beads of sweat rolled down Neville's forehead. "I...I...I don't kn...know, sir," he stammered.  
  
"What's that, Longbottom?" Snape said loudly. "You sound like Quirell, boy, speak up."  
  
"I--I don't know," Neville forced.  
  
"Don't know," Snape said silkily. "Tisk tisk. 'Tis a pity. If you would have read the material you would have known the answer. Five points from Gryffindor."  
  
Snape ignored the buring stares of the Gryffindor House and walked over to Draco Malfoy, who had cooly raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"  
  
"The correct answer, sir, when ragsweed and ground tripe bones are mixed together they cause a powerful sleep potion," he drawled smugly.  
  
A thin smile formed on Snape's lips. "Very well done, Malfoy. I see someone has read the material." He purposly scanned the Gryffidors, his gaze finally landing on Neville. "Ten points to Slytherin for Mr. Malfoy's outstanding display of intellegence."  
  
Snape turned his back to the class and returned to his desk as Slytherin broke into cheers.  
  
"That's not fair."  
  
Without thinking, Snape spun on his heel. His eyes furiously scanned the class. "Who said that?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Who said it?" he snarled, pacing the front row.  
  
"I did," a voice challenged from the back row.  
  
Snapes's eyes darkened. "Potter," he said softly.  
  
"It's not fair," Harry Potter bravely said again.  
  
"And why is it not fair?" Snape sneered, trying to hold back his rage.  
  
"Hermione had her hand up. She knew the right answer. And you told her to put her hand down. And you knew Neville didn't have the right answer, but you take points away from Gryffindor. You call on Malfoy and give Slytherin ten points! Hermione knew the answer before Malfoy. You should have gave Gryffindor ten points!" Harry called.  
  
Dead silence filled the room.  
  
Snape stood rooted to the floor, taken aback by Potter's extreme audacity. He was ready to rip that dratted scar off the boy's brow once and for all. He growled and stode furiously to the back of the room, ready to do major destruction, when a voice interupted him:  
  
"Professor Snape?"  
  
"WHAT?" he bellowed, turning around.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore sent me a message that he would like to see you in his office, professor." It was Filch.  
  
Snape sucked in a purpose-filled breath and tried to collect himself. "Yes, of course, Filch."  
  
Snape shot one more look of death to Harry Potter before he swept out of the potions class with his black robes billowing around him, but not without hearing Ron Weasly whisper, "He looks like a great overgrown bat when he does that."  
  
Once there, Snape stood outside the doors to Dumbledore's office for a few moments, trying to collect the extreme rage that was coursing through him at this moment. After a few deep breaths, he knocked twice on one of the large doors. It opened by itself.  
  
Snape stepped inside and saw Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, dressed in striking emreald robes. "Please, do come in Severus."  
  
Snape entered, his shoes clicking on the floor. "Headmaster," he said.  
  
"Please, do have a seat," Dumbledore commanded.  
  
Snape sat in one of the plush chairs in front of the desk.  
  
"Severus, I would like to introduce you to the Diamonds," Dumbledore said, motioning with his hands to the other chairs.  
  
Snape jerked his head to the Diamonds. He hadn't even seen them as he came in. There he noticed Dunner Diamond, his bright blonde hair making a striking contrast with his black robe. Dunner's face was tearstreaked and his electric blue eyes glistened with unshed tears. Past Dunner, was his sister, Dia. Snape took her in. He had a hint of a recollection of her, and by all means she did not look half veela, yet like she did when she was a student at Hogwarts. Her silvery blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytale and huge glasses covered her electric blue eyes. She wore what looked like--Muggle cloths.  
  
"I'm sure you remember Dia Diamond, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"Why, yes, of course," Snape lied.  
  
Dia nodded in his direction. Snape did not return the greeting.  
  
"Now, Severus," Dumbledore said seriously, folding his hands on his desk. "I strongly feel that at this time Dia should be with Dunner..."  
  
"Stay at Hogwarts, sir?" Snape asked.  
  
"Precisly. Now, I wish during Dia's stay with us that she will not be doing just nothing. I understand that Miss Diamond was an excellent Potions student?"  
  
Dia's face went red and Snape stumbled for a reply.  
  
A smile crossed Dumbledore's face. "How would you like a Potions assistant, Severus?"  
  
"A what?" Snape and Dia yelled at the same time.  
  
"I think that to keep Miss Diamond busy, she should be an assistant to one of the professors. And since she was a very good Potions pupil, I thought that you might use her," Dumbledore said.  
  
Snape was at a lose of words. How much worse could his day get?  
  
"Be an assistant, Headmaster? I would not want to impose on Professor Snape!" Dia cried.  
  
"Nonsense, Dialeste," Dumbledore replied warmly. "I'm sure the professor could use your help."  
  
Dia exchanged glances with a very surly-looking Snape. She gulped.  
  
"Headmaster Dumbledore..." she pleaded.  
  
Dumbledore held up a hand to quiet her. "What do you say, Severus? Can you use Dia?"  
  
All Snape could do was sigh and heavily say, "Yes." 


	4. Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR  
  
Dia Diamond woke up very early the following morning and stared out the enormous windows at the Quidditch field, which was covered in a thick fog. The morning was grey and bleak, the way Dia felt inside. She hadn't slept more than two hours for she felt as though a tornado was ripping inside her. She was incredibly sick with fear and worry about Potions.  
  
When Dia was a student at Hogwarts, her favorite and most hated class had been potions. And becuase of one reason: Severus Snape.  
  
Dia had been ending her sixth year when the old Potions master, Professor Windwilch retired. Windwilch had been a kindly old man whom all the students had adored. When he announced his retirement, all of Hogwarts felt as though it would be losing a friend. Windwilch was the reason Dia had the flaming passion for potions as she did. He had taught her the beauty of it.  
  
In her seventh year, Dia hoped that the new Potions master would be just like Windwilch. Was she ever wrong. There are no words to explain how Dia felt as she walked into the cold dungeons on the first day of her seventh year for Potions and first met Professor Severus Snape. An evil looking bat was her first impression. He had a menacing stare. His sharp black eyes, and the hard lines on his face. His greasy black hair hanging down his neck. His billowing black robes. Dia smiled to him when she first saw him. He just stared her down. He wasn't much better once class started. He threw surly remarks to students and put them down with his sharp tongue. Dia though he could have been Satan reincarnated.  
  
Dia's father being Arthur Diamond as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher didn't help. Arthur Diamond had at one time been against everything that was in support of Lord Voldemort, and when it leaked out that Snape had once been a Death Eater, Arthur Diamond went on a crusade to have him banished from Hogwarts. Diamond was outraged that Dumbledore would have hired a Death Eater. Dumbledore patiently explained to Dimond that Snape had indeed renounced all connections to Voldemort and he had joined the Light Side again, bit Diamond's theory was Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater. Since Dumbledore refused to fire Snape, Arthur Diamond made it his mission to make Snape as miserable as possible by always bringing up the fact that he had once been a Death Eater. He succeeded, and partly in thanks to Arthur C. Diamond, Snape is the way he is today. Snape took out all his anger at Arthur Diamond on Dia, making her life miserable. She thought it truly unfair that Snape  
should make her life mierable just because her father made his miserable.  
  
But, nonetheless, she was by far the best pupil in Snape's potion class that year.  
  
Dia finally found the stomach to get ready, and as she buttoned her old, tattered black robes she said outloud, "Maybe he's different. I mean, we are both adults now. Maybe he's nicer."  
  
*******  
  
Dia Diamond could be found that night sobbing uncontrollably into her pillow that night. Snape being different was very true. But Snape being nicer was a lie if there ever was one.  
  
If Dia thought when she was a student Potions were bad, now they were ten times as worse. Snape learned of deducting points from the houses, and he took points off from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor (especially Gryffindor) with every blink. And with that he gave his house (Slytherin she learned) points with every blink. Snape treated the students, except the dratted Slytherins, like they were infants with the least bit of intellegence. He was so bias. Dia wanted to help demonstrate the potions, but Snape would yell at her to sit in the corner and just watch. And then between classes he would lecture her about not doing anything.  
  
Dia sat up and threw her pillow against the wall with a high-pitch scream. "That great prat! Why does he have to make people so miserable? I can't stand this. Why the bloody did I come back to this ruddy school anyway? So I can comfort my brother? Let Dumbledore do it! I can't stand this! I'm going home!"  
  
Her long hair flowing behind her out of its usual ponytail and without her thick glasses hiding her face (she really didn't need glasses, she just wore them to make her look ordinary,)Dia flung herself down the hallway, down the winding corridors, and past the Great Hall, where dinner was still in service. She put her hands on the handles to the main doors and sobbed, "Goodbye Hogwarts--forever!"  
  
Dia was about to open the doors when she heard a soft voice say, "Stop."  
  
Dia gasped and spun around. "Dumbledore!" she cried.  
  
Dumbledore smiled warmly and walked over to her. "Where were you going, my child?"  
  
Dia suddenly felt very childish. "I..." she started, and then burst into tears. "I can't stand him...he's so evil!"  
  
Dumbledore motioned to her, and Dia sobbed into Dumbledore's brilliant purple robes.  
  
"You are remarkably like your mother, Dia. Andromena was stunningly beautiful--just like you. I remember the times I would see her, she would always be smiling, even if she had just encountered the most wretched people from your father's crusades," Dumbledore said.  
  
Dia stopped her tears and looked into Dumbledore's warm face. "Really?" was all she could ask.  
  
The Headmaster nodded. "She was very good, Dia."  
  
Dia smiled in gratitude.  
  
"Give it a chance, Dia. Your mother wouldn't want you to give up so easily. Neither would your brother, Dia. He is counting on you, depending on you. You are the only family he has now..." Dumbledore said.  
  
"But Snape," Dia whimpered.  
  
He could only smile as he put a hand on her shoulder. "My child, I never said that Severus Snape was the easiest person in the world to get close to. But he is a genius in Potions, p'raps the best next to Professor Windwilch. Severus can be a very surly man, you got me there. But he has a lot of respect. You are, I daresay, the best potions student to come out of Hogwarts in recent times. You see the beauty of the subject like Severus does. You have him there on that connection. And whether he wants to realize it or not, we are going to expect great things from you, Dia Diamond."  
  
Dia felt exhilderation course through her entire body. All she could do was look at Dumbledore, her electric eyes sparkling.  
  
Dumbledore understood and nodded. "Would you like to join us for dinner in the Great Hall?"  
  
Dia shook her head. "No, thank you, Headmaster."  
  
Dumbledore smiled. "I'll have the house elves bring something up to you."  
  
Dia shared his smile. "Thank you, Headmaster. Thank you for everything."  
  
"Your quite welcome, Miss Diamond. Now if you'll excuse me, I am afraid I may be wanted back in the Great Hall."  
  
Dia nodded and smiled.  
  
"Goodbye, Miss Diamond. Sleep well," Dumbledore said warmly, disappearing through the doors to the Great Hall.  
  
Dia's gaze lingered on the doors for a moment and her grin broadened. She finally shook her head, and, while twisting her silvery hair in a braid, climbed the stairs to her room and though nothing but what an awesome man Albus Dumbledore really was. 


	5. Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE  
  
Severus Snape woke the next morning, his mind quite in a befuddlement. All his thoughts and dreams had been plagued with the girl.  
  
His thoughts had been about his dislike for her. He reviled having an assistant, doing his job! He knew that he had been rather harsh on her, but all the memories from his first year teaching at Hogwarts had flooded back to him. Arthur Diamond, the man that made his life hell. Dia Diamond the gawky girl with the huge glasses and silvery ponytale, the greatest potions student he had ever taught in all his years.  
  
Professor McGonagall's words from a few days ago flashed back to him:  
  
Yes, I remember. She was a Gryffindor, in my house. Dratted quiet thing she was. Hid behind big glasses and all her books. Not very good in Transfiguration, but if I remembered right she was rather excellent in Potions.  
  
True, Diamond had been a Gryffindor. And extremely quiet. And she had been excellent in Potions.  
  
When he saw his most hated--well, not as much as Potter--and best Potions student there, all grown up, adrenaline had surged through him. Anger--anger towards her ruddy father. But a feeling of cockiness. He was the professor and she was the assistant. He had to prove to her that he was master. He had been worse than usual, and he admitted it. Perhaps he had been too hard on her, after all, her father and mother were gone--curse her father--and she did have enough stress on her. Perhaps he should be easier on her.  
  
His dreams that night had been much better than the previous day's thoughts. In his dream he was in a great sparkling ballroom, dressed in his finest dress robes. He saw different couples, blurred, though. Then he saw her. He didn't know who she was, but she was beautiful. Her electric blue eyes were a stark contrast against her creamy, smooth skin. Her long, wavy silvery blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders. Her curvacious, perfect body was fitted into a fantastic sparkling silver dress. Their gazes had connected from across the room, and he approached her. He bowed and she cutrsied. A waltz started and he clasp his hand into hers, put his other on her trim waist. She picked up her dress with her other hand, and he led her onto the floor. He spun her around, only staring into her hypnotic ocean-like eyes. He asked her, "Who are you?" She put a finger to her lips and led him out to the yards--away from the music. The coldness had chilled him to the bones. "Who are you?"  
he asked her again. She once again put a finger to her lips, then slowly moved closer to him, so that their lips were almost touching. He had wanted to kiss her, but then he woke up.  
  
Snape shook the silly fantasy out of his mind. There was no such thing as a beautiful girl with long slivery blonde hair and electric blue eyes who looked like a veela. Only a potions assistant with a blonde ponytale and thick glasses, who was claimed to be half veela. And he was late for breakfast.  
  
Snape didn't bother to shave the shadow of beard that was creeping up, instead he threw on his black robes, dashed his face with water, and hurried to the hallway, carefully shutting the door behind him.  
  
His footsteps were the only sound in the hallway and he started to whistle a tune.  
  
Snape was taken aback when he saw someone up ahead exit their room, pulling the door shut behind them.  
  
The person smiled. Snape couldn't believe his eyes--it was the girl from his dreams. He stopped whistling and strode over to her. The girl fell into step with him.  
  
"Hello, Professor," she said cheerfully.  
  
Snape stared at her intently. She had the same electric blue eyes and long silvery blonde hair that hung down her back.  
  
"Professor," the girl asked. "Is anything wrong?"  
  
Snape suddenly snapped back to reality. The girl put on her thick glasses that had been resting on her head. And up in the familiar ponytail went her glossy hair. Walking beside him was his assistant--Dia Diamond.  
  
Snape shook his head to clear his head. "Nothing's wrong, Diamond," he snarled.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, Professor," Dia said quietly, and stopped walking, lettting Snape take a few paces before he sighed loudly and halted.  
  
"Diamond, let's go to breakfast," he gritted.  
  
Dia had to hide her grin as she walked to breakfast with the evilist man in the world--Severus Snape.  
  
*******  
  
After breakfast, Dia followed Snape as they descended into the cold dungeons. She shivered and said cheerfully, "Chilly, isn't it?"  
  
"You get used to it," Snape replied tonelessly.  
  
Dia rolled her eyes behind his back.  
  
When they reached the classroom, Snape went to his desk drawer and pulled out a folder of papers. He handed it to Dia.  
  
"What's this?" asked Dia.  
  
Snape looked at her, a hint of amusement in his dark eyes. "You are my assistant, aren't you? You shall assist me today."  
  
He disappeared into the backroom where he kept his private supply of potion ingrediants.  
  
Dia looked cluelessly at the manilla folder. "Um, Professor, what's this?"  
  
"A folder, silly girl," his voice snarled.  
  
Dia threw an onscene gesture she had picked up from the Muggle world in his direction and said, "Yes, Professor, I know it's a folder but what's it for? It just says the recipe for the Sleep Potion using ragsweed and ground tripe bones."  
  
Snape appeared, holding two jars in his hands.  
  
"You are going to make the potion today. Need that spelled out?" Snape sneered, setting the jars on his desk.  
  
Dia sighed and pulled her ponytale out, shaking her long hair about, causing Snape to do a double take on her. Dia caught this, but Snape once again drew his attention to the jars.  
  
After she had redone her ponytale she asked, "I am going to make the potion?"  
  
Snape spun around, his dark eyes flashing. "Am I Dia Diamond? I think not. Use your brain. You're smarter than that."  
  
Once he had turned his back to her again, Dia rolled her eyes at him.  
  
Dia joined him at his desk. "Is this the ragsweed and tripe bones?"  
  
Snape nodded. "I'll introduce the potion, you perform it."  
  
Dia nodded and collapsed into a chair next to Snape's desk.  
  
There was silence until a few minutes later when the loud voices of the Gryffindor-Slytherin fifth years came echoing through the dungeon.  
  
The students entered and soon the whole classroom was filled. Some Gryffindor boys were shouting and Snape looked up from The Daily Prophet he was reading to give them a death look. They (actually the whole class) quieted down.  
  
Dia now began to feel the butterflies in her stomach. She was going to be in front of these students soon--teaching them the beautiful art of potions. What would they think of it?  
  
Snape sat down the paper on his desk and stood up. He walked in front of the first row of desks.  
  
"The Acretia Sleeping Potion," he began in a deep voice that cut through the quietness in the class. "like Mr. Malfoy answered for us a few days prior," he cast a razor sharp look at Harry Potter. "is concocted using the ground bones of tripe and the stem of ragsweed. The Acretia Sleeping Potions is used for many different reasons--to quiet a person, to quiet a person and then kill a person, and so on and so forth. Today we will be making it. You will pair up and brew the potion. Then one partner will drink it. If you have done it successfully, the other partner will be shown how to concoct the antidote for the Acretia Sleeping Potion. If they fail, then you will sleep until they learn it. So, I am advising you not to rely on Mr. Longbottom to solve the antidote. If there are no questions, Miss Diamond will show you how to brew it."  
  
Not a single hand was raised, not even by Hermione Granger.  
  
"Very well," Snape said. "Miss Diamond?"  
  
Snape retired to his desk, all the while watching Dia with his sharp, cold eyes.  
  
Dia slowly stood and moved to the front of the class.  
  
"Hello, I am Miss Diamond. I will be Professor Snape's assistant in Potions for a while. You got to help me out, I am feeling quite nervous," Dia admitted.  
  
That cause sympathetic giggles from the Gryffindors, but the Slytherins remained surly.  
  
Dia could feel Snape's angry stare burrowing into the back of her head, so she cleared her throat and continued. "Now, as Professor Snape said, the Acretia Sleep Potion is used to put its victims in a deep sleep. I will give a demonstration. First, you take the stem of the ragsweed and cut it up into 6 about 1/2 inch strips, then after carefully grinding the bones of tripe into a fine powder, place the ragsweed in the cauldron and let it simmer until you see green smoke rise. Then, little by little, add the tripes bone, there, you see the red smoke? That means that the potion was done right. We let it simmer.....alright. Take the vial, dip in the caldron and you have it. The Acretia Sleeping Potion."  
  
Dia held up the vial full of the swirling purple mixture. "There, now. Are there any questions?"  
  
A boy sitting in the front row with slicked back bleached blonde hair raised his hand.  
  
"Yes?" Dia asked pointing to him.  
  
"How do we know it'll work?" he aske,d in a drawling voice.  
  
Dia was taken aback. "Because, I've done everything right..."  
  
The blonde opened his mouth to say something when Snape made Dia nearly jump out of her skin and almost spill the potion my saying, "Miss Diamond, I think Draco is right. We need a demonstration. He got up from his desk and stood near Dia.  
  
"What do you mean, Professor?" Dia asked, scanning his dark eyes.  
  
"Why, a demonstration, Miss Diamond," Snape said, causing Dia to swear she saw a hint of amusement in his eyes.  
  
"Here," he said. Snape stood behind Dia, taking the vile from her. She felt his palm pushing against the small of her back. "This, class is the effects of the Acretia Sleeping potion."  
  
"What?" Dia stammered, but Snape had already tilted back her head and opened her mouth. Dia felt the contents of the vile slide down her throat. Suddenly, she felt very lightheaded.  
  
"Why do I feel so tired?" she murmured, before her concious gave out and she fell into Snape.  
  
The class looked on in amazement as placed his arms under Dia's knees and back and carried her to his chair. He sat he down and her head lolled to one side.  
  
"That is the effect of the Acretia Sleeping Potion," he said silkily, then added in a snarl, "Now get to work!"  
  
The class immediatly busied themselves with ragsweed and ground tripes bone.  
  
Snape went to his private storage of ingrediants and found the antidote to the sleeping potion--toads leg and horse hair.  
  
He boiled the mixture while cauldrons erupted in red and green smoke (Neville Longbottom's was or course blue). He took the concoction and forced it down Dia Diamond's throat.  
  
Dia woke up as the majority of the class fell asleep under the effects of the potion.  
  
Her eyes fluttered open, and focused on Snape.  
  
"Nice nap?" he muttered.  
  
"Yes, indeed," Dia yawned. 


	6. Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX  
  
That night, Dia slipped into the bathroom that was adjacent to her room. She was in awe. A candle-filled chandelier cast a dim light on the white marble room. The bath looked like a swimming pool, to say the least, and about a hundred gold taps lined the edge, with a different colored jewel set into its handle. Also, to Dia's surprise, was a diving board. A pile of plush towels sat in the corner.  
  
"If only the students baths would have been this nice," Dia said sliding off her robe, recalling when she went to Hogwarts.  
  
She walked over to the diving board and examined it. She shrugged, stepped onto it, ran and did a perfect dive into the invigorating water. She surfaced, her feet barely touching the floor, and slicked back her hair.  
  
"This is the life!" she giggled as she swam over to the gold taps. Dia turned them all on-- releasing different types of bubblebath. Pink bubbles, blue bubbles, orange bubbles, white bubbles, bubbles that smelled like lavendar, bubbles that smelled like apples, floating bubbles, sinking bubbles, bubbles of all sorts gushed out of the taps.  
  
Dia did summersalts, handstands, and anything else imaginable in the hot foamy water. Finally, she lay flat and floated admist the soapy foam.  
  
Her mind wandered to her second day as Potions assistant. It had been considerably better than her first. Snape actually let her participate. She didn't mind showing how to brew the Acretia Sleeping Potion. Although at first apprehensive, she didn't mind drinking the potion, either. All the while she was asleep, beautiful dreams clouded her head. She really didn't like when Snape made her take the antidote--she rather fancied the dreams.  
  
Snape had been horrid to her on her first day, but today he seemed better. He was less snide in his remarks. He had had his moments, though. Dia found it quite facinating that he knew so much about every potion. Sitting through his discussions on them she rather fancied. If he hadn't been Severus Snape, Dia could have found him, well, quite charming.  
  
Dia's thoughts soon changed from Snape and his potions to her father. Dia sank her feet on the bottom and a scowl emerged on her mouth.  
  
"How? How could he have been caught? Arthur Diamond wouldn't have been stupid enough to be caught. How did you get yourself caught, Diamond?" Dia asked with perplexion and revulsion.  
  
Dia had pushed all thought of her father and his affiliations out of her mind since she heard first about them. She certainly wasn't going to indulge her thoughts in him now.  
  
She went over to one of the taps and it roared fluffy purple bubbles that smelled like lavendar. She lingered in the aroma, then plunged underwater.  
  
While Dia was under the water, she didn't hear the set of knocks on the door to her bedroom. And when she didn't answer, the password to enter her room that was said (chocolate frogs.) When she emerged her head from the water, she heard the knocks on the door to her bathroom and the cries of, "Dia? Dia? Miss Diamond?"  
  
"Oh!" Dia yelped in surprise. "I'm in here. The password is 'lemondrops.'"  
  
She heard the password said and the door flew open to reveal Professor Flitwick.  
  
Professor Flitwick, dressed in his long green night shirt. He gasped and his eyes opened wide. Dia finally realized why. There she was, her silver robe strewn on the floor, and she in a pool of bubbles.  
  
"Oh, Miss Diamond, I'm sorry!" he cried, turning around.  
  
"It's quite alright," Dia said, wading to the side of the pool.  
  
"It's important," Flitwick said, his back to Dia. "Dumbledore's called an emergency meeting of the staff in his office. I'll be waiting outside." He shut the door behind him.  
  
"I'll be right there," Dia replied.  
  
She climbed out of the bath, and while pulling on her silver night robe, looked longingly at the bubbles. She wrung out her soaked hair and flipped it over her shoulders.  
  
She met Professor Flitwick in her bedroom (his face turned crimson--a very wet girl that looked like a true veela in nothing else but a robe) and Dia shut the door behind them as when they reached the hallway.  
  
As they padded sown the corridors to Dumbledore's office, Dia asked, "What's the meeting about, Professor Flitwick?"  
  
Flitwick, his gaze straight ahead, only shrugged. "I wish I knew, Dia. Professor McGonagall rose me out of bed and said that Dumbledore called an emergency staff meeting. What it is, I hope it's nothing bad."  
  
Dia nodded slowly.  
  
The professor and assistant were silent the rest of the way until they reached Dumbledore's office. Flitwick said the password (gumdrops) for the gargoyle to move out of the way; they reached outside the office, and Flitwick tugged open the doors.  
  
Inside, the rest of the staff were gathered. This was an amusing sight for Dia. Usually dressed in their robes during the day, now the professors wore their night shirts and some in nightcaps. Dia was the only wet one. Flitwick pushed his way to the front, and Dia stood in the back of the group, shivering in her flimsy robe.  
  
Dumbledore sat behind his desk. "Is everyone present?"  
  
Professor McGonagall spoke. "No, Dumbledore. Severus isn't here yet."  
  
As on cue, the doors opened and Severus Snape appeared in his long gray night shirt and his black hair tossled from sleep.  
  
He nodded to McGonagall who then said, "Severus is here."  
  
"Very good," Dumbledore said.  
  
Snape strode to the group and stood beside Dia, towering over her. Dia never realized that she only came up to his shoulders. He looked at the other professors and finally his gaze landed on Dia.  
  
Dia could see his dark eyes bulge. "Miss Diamond?" he blurted.  
  
Dia smiled, nodded, and opened her mouth to speak, when Dumbledore's voice echoed through the room, "Professor Goddlin handed me his resignation today."  
  
Murmurs rippled through the staff. Dia was baffled: Professor Goddlin?  
  
"But why?" Professor Sprout asked.  
  
Dumbledore shook his head. "I don't know why, Professor. He came to my office today, saying he wanted to resign from his position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I asked him why and he gave the lame excuse that some seventh years frightened him with the tale of how the position was cursed."  
  
"Was a very superstitious man," someone murmured.  
  
"He said he had a carriage waiting and all his belongings ready. I told him he couldn't go becuase he was a very good teacher and we had no one else who could fill in for him. He gave me a very mad look and said he could't stay any longer. He then ran out of my office."  
  
Silence filled the room.  
  
Professor Goddlin. Dia wasn't familair with the name. But, indeed, the Defense Against the Darks Arts position was cursed.  
  
"But what will we do now, Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall cried. "Who will fill in for him?"  
  
The staff erupted in chatter, except for Snape and Dia. Dia watched Snape, he just stood staring straight ahead, his face showing no emotion.  
  
Dumbledore raised his hands and the talking stopped.  
  
"I reckon we need someone to fill in for Professor Goddlin while we find a replacement teacher. That is why I am asking the most qualified person for the position to take it on--Severus, will you?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
Every eye in the room focused on Snape. Dia saw a flicker in his eyes. He was silent for a moment and then asked, "But what about my Potion classes?"  
  
Dumbledore nodded. "It was just our luck that you have Miss Diamond as an assistant. I trust her and know that she is qualified enough in Potions to take over the classes that will collide with your teaching of the Defense of the Dark Arts."  
  
Dia felt her face flame up. Did Dumbledore just say she was going to teach Potions?  
  
As Snape remained speechless, Dumbledore addressed the rest of the staff. "Professors, I just wanted to announce that Professor Goddin has resigned from Hogwarts. That is all. Sleep well. Professor Snape, Miss Diamond will you wait?"  
  
With soft murmurs, the staff, save Dia and Snape, left the office, leaving Dia (in her flimsy robe and wet hair) and Snape standing in the back of the room. Dumbledore beckoned them and they drew to the front of his desk.  
  
The Headmaster turned to Snape. "Severus, I chose you for the position becuase I know that you have a passion against the Dark Arts. That's why I chose you. I hope that you will take on the position until we can find a replacement teacher."  
  
Snape gave a stiff bow. "Of course, Headmaster. I will be honored to."  
  
"Very well," Dumbledore said. He turned to Dia. "Miss Diamond is excellent enough in Potions to take on the classes that will interfere with the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts. What do you say, Severus?"  
  
Dia jerked her head towards Snape. His jaw looked clenched and it seemed very, very hard for him to say, "Alright."  
  
Dumbledore's eyes lit up. "Very good. Severus, Dia you can discuss this all in later detail tomorrow. Right now, we all must get to bed." Dumbledore let out a yawn.  
  
There was silence as Dumbledore led them out of his office, locking the doors behind him. "Goodnight, you two," he said, padding off to his room.  
  
Snape and Dia now stood alone. He suddenly took out his wand and whispered Lumos. The end of his wand erupted in a bright blue light. He started down the hallway, Dia still standing in the doorway of Dumbledore's office. After a few steps he turned around. "Are you coming?" he snapped.  
  
Dia hurried to catch up to him, walking quickly to match his long strides.  
  
After walking in silence, Snape sneered, "Need a towel?"  
  
Dia realized she was still damp from the bath. She became flustered. "I...I just took a bath," she stammered.  
  
Snape grunted.  
  
Without thinking, Dia shot back, "Need a comb?"  
  
Snape immediatly halted. She realized what she had just said and to whom she said it and gasp and bit her tounge. Dia was sure Snape would murder her on the spot, but to her surprise, when he turned around, the blue light showed a flicker of amusement in his dark eyes.  
  
"Come on, Diamond," he said silkily, striding off again.  
  
Dia walked dazed beside him. She was amazed she wasn't dead yet.  
  
After a while, they reached Dia's room.  
  
Dia whispered the password and the door swung open. She was halfway in when she head Snape say, "Sleep well, Diamond. Teaching Potions to Hogwarts students can kill you."  
  
Dia spun around, stunned, only barely able to make out Snape's outline in the blue light as he made his way down the corridor to his room. 


	7. Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN  
  
Severus Snape didn't get a blink of sleep that night. He was too overwhelmed by joy. He had finally got the thing he had craved ever since he first started teaching at Hogwarts--the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. But, somehow it had always eluded him and fell into the hands of a dynasty of idiots--Jenkins, Slurger, Spire and more recently Quirrel, Lockhart, Lupin, Moody, and Goddlin.  
  
And now it was his. Well, for now, that was. What Snape despretly wished for now was that Dumbledore would make him the full time DADA teacher. That depended on two things. One, Snape knew for certain--that no one would dare apply for the position. Everyone in their right mind knew that the job was cursed. It seemed that all who taught it had some brush with Voldemort somehow. Knowing this, Snape knew that next year he would be the full time teacher. But the second thing troubled him--Dia Diamond. Since he would be graduating from potions to DADA, someone would have to be the new Potions master. Dumbledore would surely offer Diamond the job--but would she take it? The girl had only come to Hogwarts to look after her brother. But how long would she stay? Would she even stay until the end of the year? She had a good history of vanishing--but the question that gnawed at Snape was: Would she stay long enough to take over Potions and let Snape take his brass ring? He hoped so.  
  
********  
  
Dia Diamond also had a troubled sleep. The next day she would be taking on at least half of Snape's classes. It was only going on her third day!  
  
"Dumbledore must have a lot of faith in me," she murmured, sitting up in her four-poster bed. She glanced at her bed side clock (a practical Muggle invention). It read 1:30 a.m. Dia groaned and fell back into bed. She still couldn't sleep. She tried everthing from counting sheep to laying on her back. She sat up again.  
  
"Drat! I can't sleep at all and I have such a hard day ahead of me tomorrow! P'raps some warm milk will help," she said to herself, getting out of bed and slipping on her robe and slippers. She shuffled to her door, yanked it open, and down the hallway.  
  
*******  
  
Snape, uncannily, had had the same idea as Diamond. And it just so happened as he was shutting his door behind him who should be waltzing down the hall at 1:35 a.m.--Dia Diamond.  
  
Both were taken aback.  
  
"Diamond, what are you doing out?" he hissed.  
  
"I...I couldn't sleep, Professor. I was going to the kitchen for some milk..." she stammered.  
  
"What a coincidence," Snape mumbled, spitting out Lumos, causing the end of his wand to erupt in the same bright blue light. "Me too."  
  
Professor and assistant walked through the winding corridors in silence. Snape was tickling the pear in the painting guarding the kitchen when Dia gushed, "Professor, I'm not ready for this. I have no clue what I'm doing."  
  
Snape studied the helpless look on Dia's face. The pear started to giggle and the painting swung open. "C'mon."  
  
Snape led Dia down the winding steps until they reached the massive kitchen. Dia saw Snape searching around for something. "Dratted house elves. They are never near when you need them."  
  
"That's alright, Professor," Dia said. "I can get it if you want..."  
  
Snape simply waved a hand. "No, no, no."  
  
Dia slipped into a empty chair, brushing her hair out of her face, as she watched Snape reach one of the refrigerators and pull out a carton of milk. He filled up two glasses and handed one to Dia. She smiled appriciativly.  
  
Snape took a chair across from her. He watched as she gulped the glass clean. He couldn''t stop staring at her. She looked so different.  
  
Dia finished and caught Snape's gaze, his eyes flickered down.  
  
"Professor," she said softly, breaking the awkward silence. "I am not ready for this."  
  
Snape jerked his head up, his eyes flashing. "Do you not want me to have the Defense Against the Dark Arts position?"  
  
In the dark he couldn't see it, but her face heated up ten shades of crimson. "Of course not, Professor...but..."  
  
"But, Diamond?" Snape snapped, staring her down.  
  
Dia felt her a lump in her throat and tears welled in her eyes. "No, of course not. But it's only my third day...I'm not a professor! I'm not ready for this..."  
  
Snape relaxed his tone. "Of course you are, Diamond..."  
  
"No, I'm not!" Dia cried, her voice starting to come out in chokes. "The only place I've ever worked is the goddamn Ministry of Magic. I'm not ready to teach Potions. I'm not ready. I don't know why I came back..."  
  
Tears rolled down Dia's cheeks as she sobbed in the dark. All her emotions--her father, Dunner, Snape--all rushed out at once.  
  
'Stop crying, you silly girl!" Snape said softly. He held up his wand and whispered Lumos. In the blue light, Dia could see a faint outline of his face.  
  
She started helplessly at him and wiped her eyes. "I don't know what I'm doing."  
  
"Of course you do, Diamond. Why else are you my assistant?" Snape asked.  
  
"Because," Dia scoffed. "You had no other choice. You had to take on the wierd girl who you hate as your assistant becuase Dumbledore asked you to."  
  
Snape felt his temper start to rise. "What makes you think I hate you?"  
  
"Because!" Dia shrieked through tears. "You were so miserable to me when I was a student! You hated me."  
  
Snape rose to his feet. "I hated your father, Diamond," he roared.  
  
Dia jumped out of her chair. "I hated my father, too! I despised him! Why do you think I vanished?"  
  
Snape bit his tongue and tried to hide the question he was burning to ask. Why had she just gone up and disappeared from all record for five whole years? "It is none of my business why you vanished," he growled. "Just that you cover my bloody Potion classes, Diamond!"  
  
"Oh yes it is. It always has. Dia Diamond's Disappearance. Why did she disappear? Her family was scandilized. Oh, if you would have only known my father!" she shreiked before bursting into hysterical sobs that could have woke the whole school.  
  
"Enough with the tears!" Snape snarled, only to cause Dia to cry harder.  
  
Snape sighed and stepped out of character for a moment. "Diamond, what I am about to tell you may never be repeated again outside the walls of this kitchen."  
  
Dia halted her sobs and looked at Snape's face illuminated by the pale blue light radiating from the end of his wand.  
  
She sniffled and pushed her long hair off her face.  
  
"Well?" he snarled, causing Dia to jump.  
  
"Oh, yes. I promise," she said softly.  
  
Snape let out a very deep sigh. "Diamond, it's true that I didn't want you as a Potions assistant..."  
  
Dia's sobs started up slowly.  
  
"BUT," Snape continued, silencing her, "it wasn't because you were horrible at Potions. You, and I will never say this again, you, Dia Diamond...were the bestpotionsstudentieverhad."  
  
"What?" Dia asked.  
  
Snape could feel his temper start to rise. "You were the best ruddy Potions student I ever had, happy?"  
  
Snape could see a smile cross her whole face and her electric blue eyes sparkled, hypnotizing him.  
  
He could see her next reaction was to turn a deep red.  
  
"Really?" she asked softly, a new happiness invading her voice.  
  
"Yes," Snape mumbled, leaning back into his chair.  
  
Dia Diamond sat up, beaming. Snape tried to retain his surly expression while he took in the radiating girl in front of him.  
  
Silence filled the room for a few moments, before Dia asked, "But, Professor..."  
  
"What, Diamond?" Snape snapped, still beating himself over what he had told Diamond.  
  
"What do I have to do with your Potion classes?"  
  
"Oh, Diamond..." he growled. 


	8. Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT  
  
That morning, as Severus Snape waltzed into the Great Hall for breakfast, the entire populus of the High Table noticed a significant differ in his mood. Could they, dare they, say that Severus Salazar Snape was--cheerful?  
  
Snape took a seat next to Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Good morning, Minerva," Snape said, chirpily.  
  
McGonagall was taken aback. In all his year of teaching at Hogwarts, Snape had taken his seat next to her with a irritable nod of the head. Now he was greeting her?  
  
"Good morning, Severus," she said, not unabashed to with the amount of surprise in her voice.  
  
"Did you and Miss Diamond work out the arrangements?" McGonagall asked, a few moments later.  
  
Snape nodded. "Yes, I feel quite certain that Diamond can handel the first, second, and fifth years by herself. I gave her the lessons that I had planned for this week and I fancy she is smart enough to handle the situation from there."  
  
Professor McGonagall didn't respond, breakfast had appeared on the golden plates in front of them.  
  
********  
  
Dia Diamond had overslept. She could feel it in her bones as she awoke from her drunken sleep.  
  
After uttering all the Muggle oaths she knew, she slipped into her jet black robes without doing any other preperations.  
  
Dia flew down the corridors to the Great Hall, trying to concoct an excuse if Dumbledore asked for one. By all means, she had a reliable one. Until 5:00 in the morning, Snape and she had discussed all that she needed to know for handeling his Potions classes. She would be taking over the first years (easy enough), second years (a little tougher), and the sixth years (the infamous Gryffindor-Slytherin class) and would be assisting Snape with the rest. But she assumed that "assisting" Snape would mean doing most of the teaching. She understood the pressure of teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and half the Potion classes at the same time.  
  
By the time she reached the doors to the Great Hall, she reckoned that breakfast was halfway over. She slowly pulled them open and loud noise assulted her ears. The four house tables were lined with the members, all refilling their plates with the hearty food. She scurried to the High Table and sank into her seat between Snape and Professor Sprout with a sigh.  
  
"I overslept," she told Snape, catching her breath.  
  
Snape who had been chatting with McGonagall, instinctivly turned to her and said, "Very well," and turned his attention back to McGonagall. But his eyes bulged and he jerked his head to gawk at Dia. "Who are you?"  
  
Dia's mouth gaped. "What do you mean?" she cried, too loudly, for she caught the attention of the other members of the High Table, who stared at her with equal curiosity.  
  
"What?" she cried, flitting her gaze between Sprout and Snape.  
  
Snape quickly shook his head. "Nothing," he muttered, turning his attention again to McGonagall.  
  
Dia shot a pleading look to Sprout, who smiled gentle. "It's just that you look so different, dear."  
  
Confusion coursed through Dia. Look different? Then, instinctivly she reached for the rim of her thick glasses and her high ponytale, only to be greeted by the bridge of her nose and her long hair hanging widly down her back.  
  
She gasped and poked Snape in the arm. He turned to her, rather annoyed, but when he met her eyes his expression went lax. "What?"  
  
"I look different!" she cried.  
  
"I see that!" he snarled.  
  
"No, no..I mean, I overslept and I didn't have time to get ready or anything. I'm not ready to do this. I only had a few hours of sleep and...how are you so refreshed? You stayed up as long as me!" Dia said.  
  
Snape made a gesture with his hand for Dia to lower her voice since she was getting stares from the other professors and students nearby. "I made my self a potion. I can make one for you once we get down to the dungeons. Silly fool. Do you remember what to do?"  
  
Dia nodded, brushing her hair out of her face. "Yes. I have the first years first. Do the simple sleeping potion with them. The second years are the wart removal potion and the fifth years..."  
  
"...are the antidotes to poisions! Do you ever use that brain of yours, Diamond?" Snape snapped, turning back to his plate.  
  
Dia didn't fire a comeback, for she was too bust remembering the lessons as she ate the food that had appeared on her plate.  
  
Both ate in silence, except for Dia mumbling under her breath what to do and took no notice whatsoever of the greasy haired, hooked nosed professor that sat next to her. But Snape, although not showing it, rather fancied (and thanked the forgetfulness of) the assistant that sat next to him that at the moment looked like a true veela with moonbeams for hair and sapphires for eyes.  
  
********  
  
Classes that day for the students of Hogwarts were bittersweet. The two most talked about classes of the day were no doubt, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions.  
  
Although everyone went through the misery of it, pity was felt for the third, fourth, sixth, and seventh years who had Snape twice that day, as the replacement for Professor Goddlin and as Potions master. When Goddlin taught, which was never, the only defense of Dark magic that was learned was how to ward off poltergesists--using Peeves as the subject. The class had been so noisy that many a time Professor McGonagall had to come and quiet them down. Now, with Snape, the only sound was the feverish sound of quills scribbling lecture notes on parchment and Snape's zealous voice. Snape taught Defense Against the Dark Arts with a passion the students never heard before in Potions. Snape and DADA were made for each other. When he wasn't preaching overzealously about the horrors of the Dark Arts, Snape was deducting House points here and there from Ravenclaw, Huflepuff, and of course Gryffindor, while giving points to his Slytherin. A petition was passed amongst the students after  
the first class ended asking Professor Goddlin to come and resume position as Defense Aginst the Dark Arts master.  
  
For the first time ever (except Slytherin) students didn't complain about Potions. It was the new assistant who had taken over for Snape. Many hadn't even remembered her for being there the past two days--being hidden behind her big glasses and all. Now, a girl who could be mistaken for a veela was teaching them, her hair hanging wildly around her and her eyes hypnotizing. Many a boys felt the saddness was filled from the hole Fleur Delacore caused when she went back to Beauxbatons. Miss Diamond, as she was called, had all the intellect in Potions as Snape did. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor (especially Gryffindor) loved her for she rewarded them with the points they so deserved. And she took points away from Slytherin (mostly on Draco Malfoy's behalf) when they acted cruelly to other students. But although Snape did teach half of the disasterous third, fourth, sixth, and seventh year lessons, Miss Diamond taught the second half, and rewarded the points back to the  
houses that Snape had deducted. A petition was passed amongst the students during the first class asking Miss Diamond to be the permanent Potions mistress.  
  
Both petitions were handed over to Dumbledore, who vetoed the first, but seriously considered the latter. 


	9. Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE  
  
Dia Diamond was reintroduced to the Yule Ball at dinner on her seventh day at Hogwarts.  
  
"...and a reminder that the Yule Ball will be held again this year on Christmas Day. A memo that only fourth year and above may attend, unless asked by an upperclassman. Now, let us eat!" Dumbledore commanded, and the once empty plates and goblets magically were filled with delicious food and drink.  
  
Dia excitedly turned to Snape, who was eating his dinner and looked in no mood to be bothered. "The Yule Ball. I had forgotten about that. Never went when I was at Hogwarts, even even I was a fourth year."  
  
Snape murmured under his breath.  
  
Dia continued, ignoring this. "Would like to go this year. Did you go last year?"  
  
Snape ignored her.  
  
"Severus?"  
  
Snape sharply turned towards her, his eyes flashing. "Since when may you regard me by my first name, Diamond?"  
  
Dia sank into her chair under his angry eyes. "I...it's just..."  
  
"Until you are a professor at Hogwarts may you call me by my first name. To you I am still Professor Snape," Snape snarled, returning to his meal.  
  
Dia kept cool under his remark. "The Yule Ball..." she said, a wicked smile spawning her face. "Who did you go with last year, Professor Snape?"  
  
Dia could tell she did it by the way Snape held the fork in his hand mid-air. A pale red turned to a dark crimson red as he struggled to keep his rage under control.  
  
As if it couldn't get any better, a handsome seventh year from Gryffindor who was sitting close to the High Table called to Dia, "Hey, Miss Diamond, y'wanna go to the Yule Ball with me?" His section of the table erupted into hollors.  
  
Dia only smiled, regarding Snape's crimson face, and said under her breath, "Silly boy..."  
  
********  
  
Professor Wichard Prighter was in a corner of Three Broomsticks, sipping on a butterbeer alone when he saw three children take a booth in front of his. All three, undeniably, were students at Hogwarts.  
  
A boy with bright red hair spoke: "Madam Rosmerta has the best butterbeer in the world!"  
  
"Got that!" a boy with jet black hair responded.  
  
"I am so glad it's Saturday," the red head sighed.  
  
"Yeah," the black haired boy agreed. "No Defense Against the Dark Arts..."  
  
The red head groaned. "Don't ever mention those words around me again. Curse Snape! He made us take so many damn notes I think me hand is going to fall off."  
  
"Honestly," a female with bushy brown hair said irritably. "I wish Goddlin was back!"  
  
"And that's saying alot about Hermione!" the red head and black hair boy laughed.  
  
"It's true!" Hermione, the girl, argued. "I thought Potions was bad with Snape..."  
  
"Potions..." the two boys exchanged dreamy looks.  
  
"Honestly, Ron and Harry!" Hermione hissed. "The only reason you like Potions is becuase of the veela."  
  
Ron and Harry laughed. "Got that right."  
  
"But she is a good teacher, Hermione. She knows a lot about potions," Harry said, seriously.  
  
"And she's also gorgeous!" Ron excalimed, sending Harry and he into laughter.  
  
Veela?, Professor Wichard Prighter's ears perked up.  
  
"You didn't think she was all that gorgeous when she first came to Hogwarts," Hermione snapped.  
  
The boys shut-up.  
  
"Well, yeah, she was hiding behind those glasses!" Ron made a disgusted face.  
  
"Dunner is so lucky to have her as a sister!" Harry said.  
  
"I wish I was Dunner," Ron hoped.  
  
"Yes," Hermione interrupted. "But did you know that both Miss Diamond and Dunner's parents are dead?"  
  
"Really?" Ron asked.  
  
Hermione nodded her head. "Yes, you mean to tell me you haven't heard of the Dia Diamond scandal?"  
  
"Scandal?" Harry and Roncried in unison.  
  
Hermione nodded again. "Yeah, see when her father used to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher at Hogwarts. His name was Arthur Diamond. He was also totally againt You-Know-Who and was one of the heads of the campaign to bring You-Know-Who and his followers down. Well, anyway, when Miss Diamond was a seventh-year, her mother, Andromena--a veela--somehow died and this cuased Arthur Diamond to go even crazier. He wanted Miss Diamond to fill in his position as Defense Aginst the Dark Arts master, but she refused. When she graduated from Hogwarts she got a job at the Ministry of Magic, and one day--POOF--she was gone. Just like that. Disappeared. Nothing else really happened to the Diamonds except Arthur Diamond retired and a man named Professor Jenkins became the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. And of course Dunner was enrolled into Hogwarts. Then, just recently, Arthur Diamond was unmasked as a Death Eather after a plot was intercepted that a band of them  
were planning to help You-Know-Who grow more powerful. Everyone was shocked that a man who could be so against You-Know-Who could now serve him. Well, anyway, Arthur Diamond was given the Kiss of Death in Azkaban..."  
  
"Yeah," Harry piped in. "I read about that in The Daily Prophet. Do you think that's why Miss Diamond came back to Hogwarts?"  
  
Hermione nodded. "I think she came back to Hogwarts because she was summoned for Dunner's sake. But there still is a missing gap. How could a man that was so against You-Know-Who suddenly serve him? And why did she disappear into oblivion for five years?"  
  
The three were silent until Ron said, "D'ya think she'd go to the Yule Ball with me?"  
  
"Ron!" Hermione giggled as Harry burst into laughter.  
  
"D'ya want to go to Honeydukes? I want some more Every Flavor Beans," Ron asked.  
  
"Yeah," Harry and Hermione agreed at the same time.  
  
Soon, the three had disappeared out of Three Broomsticks and Professor W ichard Plighter was left alone, with his almost empty mug of butterbeer.  
  
So, Miss Diamond was at Hogwarts? Professor Wichard Plighter suddenly felt an itching to pay Hogwarts School of WItchcraft and Wizardry a visit. 


	10. Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN  
  
It was the fourteenth of December, two weeks into Dia's term at Hogwarts, when the troll appeared in the dungeons at Hogwarts.  
  
She was sitting in her usual seat between Professors Snape and Sprout, eating a leg lamb when she starled both professors by shouting, "Oh!'  
  
Snape nearly jumped out of his skin, turned to her, and snarled, "What the bloody is it this time, Diamond?"  
  
Dia peeked at Snape from behind her large glasses. "I just remembered. I left the wart potion boiling downstairs!"  
  
Snape rolled his eyes in disgust. "What a moron," he murmured under his breath.  
  
Dia caught this and felt deeply hurt on the inside. Snape, it it was possible, was more miserable to her than he had been on her first day. Dia was covering nearly all of his Potions classes (except the seventh years) to give Snape some leeway from the daunting position as Defense Aginst the Dark Arts Master. Snape stayed up nights at a time, planning lessons and grading parchments for his new class. Being tired and miserable had caused him to be extra nasty and everyone--especially Dia--tried to stay out of his way.  
  
Dia froze for a moment, remembering the boiling potion. She had made the potion for the Weasley twins--George and Fred--when they had to miss Potions for a emergency Quidditch practice. The boys were supposed to show up after dinner in the dungeons and make up their Potions class.  
  
She was lost in her thoughts when Snape gave her a jump by growling, "Well get up of your arse and stop the boiling of the bloody potion!"  
  
Dia looked at the professor in disbelief. His dark eyes flashed with a coldness that chilled her to the bone.  
  
"Yes, sir," she murmured, quickly rising from the High Table. She exited the Great Hall where she descended to the dungeons. Not a moment had she been gone when the doors were flung open again, and, gasping for breath, the Weasley twins staggered towards the High Table. Their red hair stood on end and they dripped with perpsiration.  
  
The whole room grew silent. When he saw the twins lumbering to the High Table, Dumbledore stood up, a stern look on his face.  
  
Fred reached the Table first and looked at Dumbledore with wild eyes. "Troll in the dungeon!" he breathed heavily.  
  
"What kind of joke is this, Mr. Weasley?" Dumbledore coldly asked, for he knew the pranking nature of the boys.  
  
George soon joined his brother. "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" he screamed.  
  
A united gasp was the initial response from the populus of Hogwarts--but soon the students started laughing as the teachers looked on disapprovingly.  
  
"I will deal with you later, Mr. and Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, sitting down, struggling to control his voice.  
  
"PLEASE!" Fred cried. "IT"S TRUE, HEADMASTER!"  
  
"What were you doing in the dungeons?" Professor McGonagall asked in a cold voice.  
  
"We...we had Quidditch practice today during Potions...." George started.  
  
"...we promised Miss Diamond that after dinner we would make it up..." Fred said hurridly.  
  
"...but we went before...TROLL was in the DUNGEON! WE SWEAR! It was in the dungeons..." Georged finished before he collapsed of exhaustion in front of the High Table.  
  
Gasps rippled through the students, and many began to worry. Maybe the Weasleys were being serious--for once.  
  
Dumbledore rose from his seat and raised his hands. "I will take this threat seriously. Prefects, lead your house back to the dormitories. Teachers, please stay."  
  
Various yells and screams erupted from the four house tables as students rose and stumbled out the doors, pushing to get back to their dormitories while the prefects shouted over the chaos for order.  
  
Geoge Weasly was scooped off the ground by a fellow student and Fred followed out the doors, trembling.  
  
Snape's mind rushing. Normally, he wouldn't have believed the Weasley twins for a moment, but they had seemed so sincere. The first question that flickerd through his head was who had let the troll in? The students were almost through the doors when a thought popped into his head. Dia Diamond. He looked involentarily towards her seat, but all he found was an empty chair. Dread crept up on him and then knowing--she was in the dungeons!  
  
Snape quickly spun on his heels and exited out a door behind the High Table. He felt for his wand as he hurridly made his way down the dank stonelined stairs to the dungeons. When he got to the door that opened to the Potions classroom, he knew that the Weasleys had been correct. There was a troll in the dungeons.  
  
A loud groan and then a scream were heard. Then the sound of something smashing. Snape braced himself for the scene ahead. The door swung open.  
  
Most of the Potions classroom was in ruins. Desks smashed and flipped over. Glass chards from the vials lay scattered over the floor. An assortment of ingrediants were strewn everywhere. Another growl and a following scream.  
  
A great troll, like the one encountered four years ago, carrying a huge club, was lumbering after Dia, trying to whack her with it. Dia screamed and dove under the desks. The troll raised its club with a mighty roar. She squirmed out from under the desks and stood to her feet. She picked up a chair and with a screech, heaved it at the troll. It hit the beast in the head and he let out a cry.  
  
With the troll stunned, Snape darted over to Dia, who stood frozen. He put his arms on her shoulders and tried to move her.  
  
"OH, PROFESSOR!!" she sobbed, burying herself in his billowing robes.  
  
Snape wasn't paying attention to Dia, who clawed at his robes. Only at the troll. And it was coming out of its stupor. Snape heaved Dia away and reached for his wand, holding his arms over his head.  
  
He was about to yell a charm, when he realized that all he held in his hands was air. Stunned, he slowly brought his hands in front of his face. Where was his wand?  
  
The troll was approaching quickly, and his eyes scanned the battered room. He saw it. Laying in the doorway. Snape cursed out loud. There was no time to reach his wand in time. He grabbed Dia and flung her over his shoulder.  
  
Dia was screaming hysterically as she saw the troll approaching them. Snape dove for his office and slammed the door behind him, just before the troll rammed into the door.  
  
Snape hurridly looked around the office for something to hold the door with. There was only his desk and crates of ingredants. He made eye contact with Dia. "Push the goddamn desk over here!"  
  
Dia froze. Her glasses had fallen off and lay somewhere smashed in the classroom. Her hair hung widly about her.  
  
"I said push the goddamn bleedin' desk over here if you don't want to die!" Snape bellowed, trying with all his might to hold the buckling door against the ramming the troll gave the flimsy wooden door.  
  
Dia slammed back to reality and with all her might, stuggled to push the heavy desk over to the door. Snape helped her push it against the door, and he could finally step back. The desk was temporarily holding the troll at bay.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Dia sobbed.  
  
Snape looked wildly around. "I don't know!" he yelled, but his voice was drown out by the growls of the troll and the crashing of concrete right outside the door. Dia erupted in another scream.  
  
"What the HELL was that?" she shreiked.  
  
Snape fell to the floor and lay on his stomach to peer out the crack at the bottom of the door. Broken stone and concrete covered the crack except one section. "I think the bloody thing hit the wall above the door and shattered it. It just might be a barrier to keep us from it!"  
  
Dia dove next to Snape, in the same position to peer out the tiny crack at the bottom of the door. Silence filled the air.  
  
"Do you think it left?" Dia asked hopefully.  
  
She was answered when she heard the troll's bellowings. The beast was in the far corner of the classroom, preparing to charge the door.  
  
"Oh Jesus Christ, you mother fucking great prat of a stupid ass troll! Just fucking die, already!" Dia screeched.  
  
Snape looked at her, stunned, wondering how such a quiet thing such as Dia Diamond could use such harsh curses.  
  
The troll's war-cry caused Snape to look under the crack once more. It was certainly charging the door.  
  
Dia shut her eyes. "Please, if I live I will never do anything bad again. I will be thankful for everything, I will be good..."  
  
As his assistant rambled on and on, something miraculous happened. The troll erupted into agonizing howls of pain and Dia's electric eyes opened quickly.  
  
Snape, in rapture, put his arm around her and squeezed her. "You lucky bitch, you did it! You bloody did it!"  
  
Their peering eyes found the troll, on his way to ram in the door, hadn't noticed the only standing thing in his way--the cauldron of wart potion that Diamond had made earlier.  
  
The troll tripped over it, falling on the hard floor with a thud, cauding the club and the cauldron to rise in the air, and sening the potion to cover the troll. It's skin broke out in huge red blisters as it howled in pain. As the troll stood, covered in red boils, the airborn club landed with a sick thud on its head. The beast wobbled drunkingly about for a few moments, until it slipped out of conciousness and fell to the floor.  
  
The aftershock remained with Snape and Dia for a few minutes. They lay frozen, on their stomachs, hair disheveled, faces smuged with dirt, and sides touching, peering through the crack in the door.  
  
After a while, Dia wobbily got up. Snape followed her lead, dusting himself off.  
  
"Now how the hell are we going to get out of here?" he murmured.  
  
He moved the desk out from the door and gave a great push, but the concrete would not let the door budge.  
  
"Damn and blustrey," he muttered. He motioned to Dia. "Diamond, come and help me."  
  
When she didn't reply, Snape turned around, to see her swaying on her feet. Her eyes were welled up with tears.  
  
"Diamond!" Snape snapped. But Dia became hysterical, and fell to the floor in sobs.  
  
Normally, Severus Snape would have made a snide comment about Diamond's show of emotions, but this time he felt a pang inside. 'Stop crying, you silly girl!"  
  
Dia responded by crying harder and burying her tear-streaked face in her hands.  
  
Snape walked over to her and put a wearly hand on her shaking shoulder blades. "It...it's alright, Diamond. The troll's knocked out...There there." Severus Snape really wasn't the one for words of comfort.  
  
Dia shook her head. "No...no...you don't understand..." She sobbed harder.  
  
Snape, even surprising himself by his actions, dropped down next to Dia. Dia looked at him, rather stunned, with puffy eyes. His eyes glinted and a thin smile crossed his lips. "The troll's dead, Diamond. If you wouldn't have had that dratted wart potion there, then I daresay that we would be dead."  
  
She reviewed his words for a moment, before shaking her head and the tears started again. "No...I could have died. If I would have died...then...then...who would Dunner have? No one..."  
  
She buried her face in her hands again.  
  
Snape moved closer and put a light arm around her shoulders. Dia stopped her tears and looked at him, surprise crossing her tear streaked face.  
  
Snape saw a look of despretly wanting an answer linger in Dia's electric blue eyes. He was hypnotized by them, but then quickly looked away. "But you didn't die, Diamond," he said softly.  
  
Dia Diamond choked out a sob and fell against Severus Snape's chest is a state of pure exhaustion. Snape was surprised by this and flexed his back against her, but soon arched it, so she rested peacefully amongst his black robes. After a few minutes, Dia fell to sleep with Snape's rhythmic breathing filling her ears.  
  
It was the fourteenth of December that Severus Snape sat in the potions office, with a knocked-out troll with blistering red boils laying outside in the battered classroom, with concrete and stone covering the only exit of escape, with no wand, and with his assistant--her robes ripped, her long blonde hair dishevled, her face smuged with dirt, and her soft breathing, that he knew that he would never feel the same way about Dia Diamond. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN  
  
The tale that spread like wildfire through the Hogwarts student body and staff the next day went somewhat like this:  
  
Snape and Miss Diamond were having a passionate affair. During dinner, they went down to the Potions room to that they could 'spend sometime alone' (the students used some more graphic words.) While 'getting to know each other' in Snape's office in the Potions room, the troll came lumbering, did all the damage to the classroom, and trapped Snape and Miss Diamond inside, where even as the troll lay knocked outside the door, they 'got to know each other.' The next morning, after the troll had been removed, the classroom magically repaired by Dumbledore, and the concrete removed from the door, Snape and Miss Diamond were found in each other's arms. Snape was getting fired from Hogwarts for 'getting to know' (students used another term) Miss Diamond. But Miss Diamond was staying because Dumbledore didn't want her disappaering again. And, plus, she was gorgeous.  
  
Where ever Dia went the next day, people whispered behind her back. About ten curious students had asked her if the story was true, and she had to keep a straight face everytime. She thought it positivly amusing that people thought she was having an affair with the Replacement Defense Aginst the Dark Arts/Inactive Potions Master. She knew whenever she taught her Potions classes that day, that people were silently whispering. She heard snippets of comments like, "I can't believe Snape bagged a girl that gorgeous!" "Why would a veela want to sleep with a nasry greaseball like Snape!" "I wish I were Snape!" "She's such a tramp!" "Ewh! I wouldn't touch Snape with a ten foot pole and here she is sleeping with him..."  
  
All through her lessons she had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. She roamed the corridors with a smile and giggled everytime she heard a new version of the story. But Snape wasn't taking the story so lightly. Dia heard from the conversations in her Potions classes that Snape had been a million times worse than he ever had. He had taken a record number of points off of the houses (even his own, Slytherin) when they made ill comments behind his back. He gave them a tremendous amount of homework and snarled and sneered at them the whole time. Whenever Dia saw him, in between classes, he would storm around, his black robes billowing about, like a large bat in a grand tizzy.  
  
The first time all day she actually got to talk to Snape was at dinner.  
  
Dia took her usual seat in between Professor Sprout and Snape. Snape ignored her completely. Dia settled herself in her seat and looked out at the four house tables. Many looked in her direction and she could just tell than her sitting next to Severus Snape was more than a scandal. She quielty smiled to herself.  
  
"Hello, Professor," Dia said cheerfully to Snape.  
  
He ignored her and looked straight ahead. Dia studied him. His skin was unusually pale, except for his cheeks which burnt crimson. He had a cut on his lower left cheek, from a chard of glass cutting him last night, which Madam Pomfrey had fixed with a bandage (Dia also had a matching one on her upper right cheek.)  
  
"So, how was class, today?" she asked innocently.  
  
Snape still stared forward. But his pale complexion turned rouge. Dia could tell she was striking his temper.  
  
She shrugged and began to eat the delicious food which had magically appeared on her plate.  
  
********  
  
Professor Wichard Plighter finished writing his application and sent it to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore at the Hogwards School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by messenger owl, and waited patiently for a reply.  
  
*******  
  
The mild winds of mid-December quickly became unbearable as Christmas arrived. Sparkling white fluff covered the grounds of Hogwarts and made the old fortress look like an enchanted castle.  
  
Students began to get restless as the prospect of Christmas and the Yule Ball neared. The Snape/Miss Diamond spectacle had ended (except it still lived on in a few, such as Draco Malfoy.)  
  
Many students had came to Dia and pleaded with her to make them a love potion so that their crush would go to the Yule Ball with them. Dia kindly laughed and said that love potions weren't allowed.  
  
While most of the teachers made the students work until the last moment, Dia made Potions fun. The students were in disbelief. Snape had always made them plow through potions on this and potions on that. But Miss Diamond showed them how to make burping potions, potions that turned to rock candy, potions that made the drinker levitate and so on. The class soon became the most talked about again.  
  
When Snape heard that his Potions class had become *gulp* fun, he promised himself to give a good lecture to Diamond. But he found that talking to her would be most embarrassing, so to even out the fun of Potions he made Defense Against the Dark Arts not fun. He gave his students piles of homework, so much that even Hermione Granger whined about it.  
  
But the pupils survied the trial, and the last class Dia had the last day before break was the Gryffindor-Slytherin fifth years. Dia had taken a liking to this particular class (except the Slytherins) and she gave the class a free day and sat chatting with the majority of the Gryffindor girls about the Yule Ball.  
  
"I got my dress, Miss Diamond. It's so pretty!" Parvati Patil squealed. "It's lilac with dark purple trim."  
  
"Sound wonderful, Parvati. Who are you going with?" Dia asked.  
  
Parvati looked downtrodden. "I'm going with Ron Weasley this year!" She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. Dia looked and saw Ron Weasley, the quirkily cute red head sitting in the back Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.  
  
"What about you, Lavendar?" Dia asked.  
  
"Im going with Seamus," Lavendar Brown beamed.  
  
"What about you, Miss Diamond?" Corky Commard, a Gryffindor, asked.  
  
Dia's face flushed and she couldn't help but think of Severus Snape for a moment. She knew the girls were thinking the same thing. "No, girls, I am not going with Professor Snape. There is absoutly nothing between us. I'm going with Headmaster Dumbledore."  
  
"HEADMASTER DUMBLEDORE?" all the girls asked in disbelief.  
  
Dia giggled. "Yes...but he needed a dancing partner and I needed a dancing partner, that's all."  
  
The girls looked relieved.  
  
"Your so lucky, Miss Diamond," Parvati said after a while.  
  
"Why do you say that, Parvati?" Dia asked.  
  
Parvati looked sullen. "You could have gone with anyone you wanted. Fred and Geroge..." This brought about a swoon from the other girls. "...or any of the top picks this year. Who am I stuck with? Not Fred of Geroge. But Ron."  
  
Dia laughed. "I see nothing wrong with Mr. Weasley."  
  
Parvati sighed as she looked at Ron, who was holding a conversation with Harry and Hermione. "Then let's switch dancing partners. You take Ron and I'll take Headmaster Dumbledore." 


	12. Chapter Twelve

CHAPTEN TWELVE  
  
Christmas had finally arrived. Dia woke from a peaceful sleep to find a cluster of presents at the foot of her bed. She greedily ripped them open.  
  
She got assorted candy from Honeydukes (her absolute favorite shop) from Dunner, various knicknacks from her students and fellow colleuges, a beautiful silver hair clip from Dumbledore to wear with her gown tonight, and an anonymous gift--a gorgeous silver chain with a tiny diamond heart in the middle. Encrusted inside the tiny diamond was a small electric blue sapphire. She read the unsigned note that came with it:  
  
To my Dia Diamond,  
  
The diamond shows how you shine brillaintly like the Diamond you are as the sapphire represents your brilliant eyes.  
  
At first Dia thought that it was from one of her students that was infatuated with her, but this must have cost a fortune. She shrugged as she carefully put it on her neck.  
  
Dia admired it in the mirror. It was simply gorgeous. She took it and lay it in the box it came wrapped in, promising herself to wear it to the ball and find out who got it.  
  
She pulled on a light blue sweater with snowflakes on it that the house elves had knitted for her, threw her hair back in a ponytail, and, not being able to help herself, spent the rest of her free time that day having a snowball fight in the grounds with Geroge, Fred, Ron Weasley and about the rest of the male population of Hogwarts.  
  
********  
  
It was exactly 7:46 P.M. when Severus Snape swished through the doors of the Great Hall, looking impeccable in his new raven dress robes. The hall sparkled brillantly and looked gorgeous with the Christmas decorations. Much of the staff was already there, standing around the High Table, laughing merrily.  
  
Snape didn't feel much like standing around like an idiot high on Christmas spirit so he sat down in one of the chairs lining the walls to sulk. And the brooding began. The first thing on the adgenda was the obvious. For the thousandth Yule Ball, he didn't have a dancing partner. For a second he had actually considered asking someone. He ran down the list of female professors at Hogwarts. McGonagall (too old.) Sprout (too dumpy.) Diamond (just right.) Hooch (yellow eyes?) Diamond (simply perfect.)There was none. Then there was the fact that since the story about the troll had started, everyone thought that he was going to go with Diamond (just right.) But Dia Diamond? Why on earth would he go with such a (beautiful) giddy creature like that?  
  
Snape had been lost in his glumness for fourteen minutes. It was now 8:00 and the doors to the Great Hall opened and in swarmed the students: the boys dressed in their dress robes and the girls with their multi-colored dresses and neatly done hair.  
  
Five minutes later the Weird Sisters (they had played last year's ball) showed and set up their equipment.  
  
Snape looked to the High Table. Many of the professors were jokingly dancing with each other and only a few sat conversing with each other. But a professor was missing...  
  
Snape stood up and swished to the High Table, preparing to take his seats when he heard the chatter stop. Then the gasps and catcalls. He jerked his head to see what all the chaos was about and immediatly he understood.  
  
Dumbledore had entered the Great Hall, dressed in brilliant light blue robes, and on his arm was her.  
  
The girl from Snape's dreams was linking arms with the aged Headmaster. She couldn't be described in words, she just radiated with beauty. Her smooth, curvacious body filled the sparkling ligh silver dress. Her moonbeam woven hair was piled upon her head and her electric blue eyes sparkled as she quietly smiled.  
  
Everyone seemed to be taken aback at the girl Dumbledore had on his arm. Dumbledore, who seemed quiet amused with the ruckus, riased his free hand and asked: "What happened to the music?"  
  
The Wierd Sisters' music once again filled the Hall and the students began dancing again, although every male eye on the room was turned towards the beautiful girl.  
  
Dumbledore led her onto the floor and began twirling her around. She giggled as she spun Dumbledore.  
  
Snape could only stay fixated to the floor, his eyes watching this beautiful creature. After a few songs, Dumbledore left the girl's side, panting. He took his seat next to Professor McGonagall at the High Table. The girl fanned her face and took a seat in one of the chairs lining the wall. Immediatly, swarms of unattched (and attached) boys scrambled over to dance with the veela. But Snape took his cue and strode over to the beautiful girl before the others could reach her, and offered his hand. "May I have this dance?"  
  
The girl looked stunned, but she nodded, and Snape led her onto the dance floor. A waltz was starting. He deeply bowed and she curtsied. As if from his dream, he clasped his hand in hers, and put his other on her waist. She picked up the end of her long silver train and they begun dancing. It was all a blur to Snape. The only thing he could do was stare into the girl's electric blue eyes. Her gown swished and his robes billowed. He spun her around and around until the silver clip holding her hair fell out and cascaded down her shoulders and to her back.  
  
Many couples stopped dancing to watch Snape and the gorgeous girl dance. Many males felt outgrgeous with jealousy.  
  
While dancing with Ron Weasley, Parvati patil led him over to Lavendar Brown and whispered in her ear, "I told you there was something between them."  
  
The song was ending. Snape knew it. But he wanted it to last forver. He wanted to look into those ocean blue eyes forever. And it did. A smile crossed the girl's lips and she broke out of Snape's grasp, curtsying. She started to glide off the floor when Snape grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. "Who are you?" he whispered. He should have known the answer, he knew the answer, but he was blinded by his dream.  
  
The girl only smiled her small smile and swished off the dance floor, heading for the exit of the Great Hall. Snape followed in persuit.  
  
When he finally found her, she was standing in the snow covered grounds of Hogwarts. She looked like a snow angel. Students who had grown bored with the dance were sitting on the benches, snogging, too busy to notice Snape and his fantasy. She walked through the snow, Snape following, until she stood on the banks of the now frozen-over lake. She looked out onto it, her hair blowing in the breeze.  
  
Snape assumed a position in front of her. "Who are you?" he asked.  
  
She only smiled.  
  
Snape was about to ask again when he saw something glinting on her neck. It was a silver chain with a tiny diamond and a small sapphire encrusted inside. It couldn't be true. "Diamond?" he blurted.  
  
Dia Diamond's cheeks flushed pink. Snape moved closer and held the diamond in his hand.  
  
She spoke. "To my Dia Diamond. The diamond shows how you..."  
  
Snape concluded. "...shine brillaintly like the Diamond you are as the sapphire represents your brilliant eyes."  
  
Dia's eyes sparkled. "So it was you."  
  
Snape inched closer to her.  
  
"But before...you seemed so..." But Dia was interrupted by Snape leaning forward, wrapping his arms around her waist, and kissing her lightly. Dia responded by entwining her arms around his neck, and Snape kissed her more passionatley.  
  
Both parties found that exhileration coursed through them.  
  
Snape felt ironicy. Here he was, head over heels in love with Dia Diamond. The best potions student he had ever had. He hardly knew her. But he was madly in love with his Potions assistant.  
  
Dia felt stupidity. How was she ever to guess that she would be kissing her old Potions teacher--Severus Snape! A man that had made her life miserable. A man she had hated. A man that she thought hated her up until the moment when he had asked her to dance. She had felt butterflies erupt in her stomach. And here she was, enjoying it. Here she was, little Dia Diamond, knowing that she would never want to pull out of that embrace. 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
  
When Severus Snape woke the next morning in his four-postered bed, he knew it wasn't true. It had been a dream. He really hadn't danced with Dia Diamond. He really hadn't kissed her. And she really hadn't kissed him back.  
  
As he groggily sat up in bed, this saddened him deeply. He would just have to go another miserable day, watching her from a far. But, as he sat up he slid his hand across the bed and it touched something that seemed to be hair. His heart raced and he jerked his head to his left. There she was. His veela. Lying sound asleep on her side, her smooth skin peeking out from underneath her silvery hair which fanned out on the bed.  
  
Then it was true. It hadn't been a dream. He had danced with Dia Diamond. He had kissed her. She had kissed him back. And right now, she wasy lying asleep under the covers which meant...  
  
Had he been the first? He didn't know. Last night she had been alive with fire and passion and it was hard to believe...but this was Dia Diamond. The same little Potions assistant with the big glasses and quiet personality.  
  
Snape studied her for a few moments, until she began to stir. She yawned and sat up, streching her arms over her head.  
  
A thought burrowed into Snape's mind. What if when she woke up and saw him there, she would be over come with disgust? What if this really meant nothing at all... What if...  
  
Dia Diamond opened her eyes and made contact with Snape. A bewitching smile touched her lips. "Why, good morning, Professor."  
  
At once, every doubt in Snape's mind was banished. He responded with, "Good morning, Diamond" as he leaned over and brushed his lips against hers. Dia entwined her hands in his hair and the kiss became more passionate. It was she that broke away.  
  
"Severus..." Dia started, then halted. It sounded odd calling Snape by his first name instead of 'Professor.'  
  
"Hum?" Snape asked, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close.  
  
Dia suddenly felt foolish about the question she yearned to ask. She had to ask. When she woke she remembered nothing...it was as though she had been drugged by some sweet potion and when she awoke all she could see was a blinding infatuation for Professor Severus Snape.  
  
Dia tried to find a way to word the question, but all that came out was: "Did we..."  
  
Snape down at Dia, surprised. He was about to make a comment about her forgetfulness, when he realized that he didn't remember all of last night either. Only the raw passion that was felt. He got chills recalling it. He could only answer truthfully, "Yes."  
  
While Dia reviewed this, Snape waited in dread for her reply. How would she react?  
  
Dia recieved the news with a wicked grin crossing her face as she strattled Snape. "But, Professor, was it...?"  
  
Snape was overtaken with lust at that moment. "What?"  
  
"Wild?" the words rolled off her tongue.  
  
He couldn't control his grin as he said in a soft voice, "Yes."  
  
The assistant started to run her hands through the professor's hair. "But what about the...noise?"  
  
Snape was taken a back by this question. He rather foolishly said, "I cast a sound-proof bubble in the room."  
  
Dia grinned more. "So no one..."  
  
"Heard?"  
  
She nodded her head.  
  
Snape smiled wickedly. "Not a soul."  
  
"Well, Professor," Dia said. "You just might want to cast that ickle spell again."  
  
Lust rushed through Snape as he grabbed his wand that was sitting on his bedside and said the incantation for the sound-proof room spell.  
  
******  
  
Dia was about to scream out the professor's name when there came knocks on the bedroom door. Dia was ready to yell in shock when Snape quickly put a hand over her mouth. "Don't speak," he barely whispered. "The spell only lasts an hour. It's wearing off."  
  
There was another set of knocks and Professor McGonagall's distinct voice filtered through the door. "Severus? Severus, are you in there?"  
  
Snape made a motion for Dia to be silent as he slid off the bed. "Yes, Professor McGonagall?"  
  
"Severus, could you please open the door?" McGonagall asked.  
  
Snape turned around and he and Dia shared a wild look. Dia immediatly jumped off the bed, holding the sheets against her. Snape pulled the sheets off her and shoved her under his bed, along with her dress, undergarments, and shoes that had been strewn on the floor.  
  
"Severus, could you please open the door?" McGonagall said, irratbly.  
  
"Just a moment, Professor!" Snape said, pulling his trousers on. He was reaching for his robe when he heard the password (Acretia sleeping potion) said, and the door swung open, revealing McGonagall. Snape was so surprised he dropped his robes at his feet.  
  
Professor McGonagall's face turned crimson as she said, "Severus!"  
  
Snape stood before her in only his trousers. McGonagall backed into the hallway, closing the door behind her, just leaving it open a crack so she could still talk to Snape. As she was talking, he hastily pulled on the rest of his wardrobe. "Severus, I was sent by Headmaster Dumbledore to fetch you and Miss Diamond. He needs to see you immediatly in his office."  
  
Snape buttoned his shirt, looking like he was on pins and needles, despretly wanting McGonagall to leave so he could smuggle Diamond back to her room.  
  
"Of course, Professor McGonagall, I will be there right away," he said, joining McGonagall at his door.  
  
She looked relieved that Snape was now clothed (except later she felt the odd sensation of somewhat liking the Potion Master's well carved chest and arms) and forced a thin smile. "Of course. Well, now, Severus, I must be on my way to deliver the message to Miss Diamond. Good day."  
  
McGonagall had backed into the hallway when panic rushed through Snape. He stuck his head out the door. "But, Professor, Diamond isn't in her room!" He mentally slapped himself for his stupid wording of the sentence.  
  
She turned to Snape curiosuly. "Why of course Miss Diamond is in her room. She hasn't been seen all day..."  
  
Snape cut her off. "I...I can deliver the message to Diamond!"  
  
"Very well, Severus," the Deputy Headmistress replied, looking oddly at Snape. She finally came out of her trace and nodded her head farewell. Snape watched as she disappeared down the hallway and around a corner.  
  
When she had gone, Snape slammed the door and collapsed against the wall, exhaling a deep breath.  
  
Dia's head appeared from the side of the bed annd she asked, "Is she gone?"  
  
Snape nodded and Dia let out a long sigh. She quickly changed into her gown from last night's Yule Ball and walked over to Snape, who wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her tight.  
  
"That was so close," she said seriously. Then, after making eye contact, both parties burst into hysterical laughter at the thought of almost being caught.  
  
After a few minutes Snape said, "We better go see what Dumbledore wants."  
  
Dia backed away and held up a finger. She took Snape's wand and uttered an incantation, which changed the gown into the regular black robes she wore. Her hair was slicked back into a ponytail. She mockingly bowed and Snape jokingly clapped.  
  
Snape and Dia finally made their way to Dumbledore's office, and when no student or teacher was about, his hand found hers.  
  
When they reached the outside to Dumbeldore's office, Snape stood straight and stiff like he usually did. He knocked on the door. Dia looked up at him, but he stared straight ahead. Before the doors opened and Dumbledore beckoned them to sit, they were both thinking the same thing: perhaps Dumbledore was finally going to make Snape the fulltime Defense Against the Dark Arts Master and Dia the permanant Potions Mistress.  
  
Dia and Snape took a seat in side-by-side chairs. Dumbledore smiled warmly at them from behind his desk. This could have been a perfect oppertunity for Dumbledore to spring the good news on the pair, but one thing was wrong with the scene. It was the man that stood near Dumbeldore's chair, the man that looked to be in his late fourties with the dark blue robe, sandy blonde hair greying at the edges, and the crinkled grin. It was this single man that turned the good news upside down.  
  
Dumbledore spoke to Dia and Snape while motioning to the man beside him. "Severus, Dia, I would like to introduce to you Professor Wichard Prighter, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher." 


	14. Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN  
  
It was at the same time that Dia and Snape's jaws dropped.  
  
"What?" Dia shrieked.  
  
All three men looked at her (Dumbledore shocked, this man, Prighter, still wearing his crinkly smile, and Snape seething.)  
  
"Yes, dear, our dilemma has been solved. Professor Prighter was kind enough to step in as out new Defense Against the Dark Arts Master," Dumbledore smiled.  
  
Dia looked from Snape (who was boiling over in his chair, though keeping his apperance refined) to Dumbledore. Then she said something the moment she uttered it, wished she could take it back. "But what about Professor Snape?"  
  
Dumbledore's smile dropped a little as he looked to Snape, but came back as he looked back to Dia. "What about Severus, dear? I'm sure that he will be happy to get back to his Potion classes!"  
  
"But..." she sputtered.  
  
The Headmaster chuckled. "Of course you can still be Potions assistant. I am sure Severus is relieved to get out of the stuffy Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. I've informed Professor Prighter what he is to deal with and he seemed extremly happy. Besides, why would we want to lose Severus, one of the greatest potions teacher we ever had here at Hogwarts?"  
  
Prighter stepped out from Dumbledore's desk. "Forgive me for not introducing myself. I'm Wichard Prighter." He reached out his hand to Snape, who ignored the man all together, and then to Dia. When she reached out her hand, Prighter instead took it and gave it a long kiss, staring at her with bright green eyes. (Without even looking, Dia could tell Snape was going to be set off at any moment. First this man steals his job and then his Dia Diamond?)  
  
Dia felt herself drawn to the man's eyes. She swore that the man looked familiar...or that his eyes looked familiar...  
  
The shared gaze was interrupted by Dumbledore clearing his throat. Prighter resumed the position next to Dumbledore's chair.  
  
Dumbledore folded his hands and looked between the Potion Master and Assistant. "Well, that was basically all I had to say. Just remember those Potions lesson plans, Severus!" he joked. Only he and Prighter laughed.  
  
The icy energy that Snape was radiating finally hit Dumbledore because he then said, "That's all, Miss Diamond, Professor Snape."  
  
Snape rose out of his chair and slammed through the doors to Dumbledore's office, without a good-bye, his robes billowing behind him. Dumbledore reeled from this. Dia got up, and rushing after Snape turned, around and said, "Goodbye, Headmaster, Professor!"  
  
She didn't wait for a reply as she raced down the hallway in persuit of Snape. "Professor, wait!" Dia cried, as she finally caught up to his long strides.  
  
Snape's face was twisted in rage. "Stay the fuck away from me, Diamond," he swore, using the curses that Dia had learned from the Muggle world.  
  
He thundered the stariway to the landing his floor was on. "Severus, listen to me!" Dia cried.  
  
Snape ignored her until they reached the hallway his room was on. He turned to her. "How the bloody could Dumbledore replace me with that goddamn git? I should be the damn Defense Aginst the Dark Arts Master, not that twit!"  
  
"Dumbledore didn't know you wanted the job!" Dia cried.  
  
Snpe's dark eyes glowed with fury. "Oh, no, Diamond, you solved that!"  
  
"What the hell do you mean?" Dia cried, her voice rising.  
  
"I mean what you said in there! You practically told Dumbledore that I was a slave to the Defense Aginst the Dark Arts position. That I wanted it so badly! Now he'll probably feel sorry for me and think I'm some sad little prat!" Snape roared.  
  
Dia was stunned and unbelievably hurt by Snape's accusations. "You PRICK!" she sobbed, tears running down her cheeks.  
  
"Go on and cry, Diamond," he snarled. "Being a gorgeous veela won't help you this time."  
  
Snape strode to the door that lead to his room. He had his hand on the knob when he felt himself being spun around by Dia. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" she screamed.  
  
Snape shook from her grasp. "Just that you bewitched me that night in the troll's dungeon..."  
  
"But what about last night..." she sobbed.  
  
"You and your veela powers. You've enchanted all of Hogwarts under your spell, Diamond. But it won't work on me anymore!" he spat.  
  
"You compelete and utter ASSHOLE!" Dia shrieked, slapping Snape across his face.  
  
Snape reeled for a moment, putting his hand tenderly to the now flaming red spot. He looked at her with flaming eyes. Dia stared back defiantly. Before he put his hand on the door knob, before he slammed it behind him, and before he left Dia sobbing uncontrolably, he said in a silkly voice, "Leave me the alone, Dia Diamond." 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

CHAPTER FIFTEEN  
  
"I can't believe that Christmas break is over already!" Ron Weasley pouted as he, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger descended into the dungeons for Potions.  
  
"I mean not only are we going to have Miss Diamond as a teacher anymore, we have to have Snape as a teacher again!" he cried.  
  
"Well, Ron," Hermione said. "At least we don't have him for Defense Against the Dark Arts anymore. I would have just died if they would have gired him full time. And perhaps Professor Plighter will be nice..."  
  
"But do you know how bloody miserable Snape's gonna be?" Ron asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry blurted. He really didn't think he could handle an even more miserable Snape.  
  
"Well you know how much he wanted that position. And now he's gonna be so bleedin' wretched becuase he didn't get the job he fancies," Ron exclaimed.  
  
They were just about to enter the Potions classroom when Harry stopped them outside the entrance.  
  
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Well, Paravati told me that the day after Christmas she was walking to the Great Hall when she saw Snape come barreling down the hall looking all in a tizzy and Miss Diamond right behind him, tying to calm him down. She said that she heard yelling in the stairways, too. She swore that Dumbledore had just introduced Snape to Plighter, and that's how badly he took it."  
  
The three exchanged glances, and Ron made a gesture as to slice his neck with his finger.  
  
As they entered the classroom, there was a definate coldness to the room. Snape sat behind his desk, his nose burried in a copy of The Daily Prophet. Miss Diamond sat in a chair facing the class, as far away from Snape as she could be, so it seemed.  
  
As soon as Ron, Harry, and Hermione took their seats, Lavendar leaned over to Harry and whispered, "Everyone has been saying that Snape and Miss Diamond had a lover's quarrel."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. "What makes you think that Miss Diamond would even fancy a man such a Snape?"  
  
'Well you saw the way they were dancing at the Yule Ball!," Lavendar argued. "Snape looked completely infatuated with her! And Malfoy has been saying that when they disappeared for the rest of the dance he saw them snogging outside!"  
  
She and Parvati burst into giggles. Harry was about to say something in Miss Diamond's defense when Snape took the paper away from his face and looked at the two girls with cold eyes. "There will be no silly giggling in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor."  
  
All eyes were either on Snape or Lavendar and Parvati. Lavendar looked pale and Parvati looked like she was about to cry.  
  
A fun day of Potions with Master Snape had begun.  
  
Snape rose out of his chair and silence fell over the class. He was ready to start when a soft yet strong voice came from the corner of the classroom. "I like Miss Patil and Miss Brown's laughter. Ten points to Gryffindor."  
  
Snape whirled around in his heel. "What did you say, Miss Diamond?" he said softly.  
  
Miss Diamond sat cooly in her seat. "Well, Professor Snape, it's just that Miss Patil and Miss Brown are such nice girls it would be unjust to rob them points just for being girls. Don't you think, Professor?"  
  
The class felt as though they were in the calm of a hurricane. Snape was going to erupt any moment. "That last time I looked, Miss Diamond, you were the assistant and I was the professor," he gritted.  
  
"No, Professor," Dia said angerly, rising from her seat. "The last time I checked you were the replacement Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and I was the replacement Potions teacher."  
  
The class watched in awe as their Miss Diamond talked back to Snape in the condition he was. In all the Harry Potters, James Potters, Sirus Blacks, and Lupins, Severus Snape had never looked so utterly furious. His face heated to a dark crimson and his dark eyes flashed.  
  
He stood only inches away from his assistant. "How dare you, Diamond," Snape said quietly and dangeously.  
  
Emotion coursed through Dia's body as she stared into his cold eyes, eyes that she couldn't even recognize. "No, how dare you!" she spat, as she spun and ran out of the classroom.  
  
Dia Diamond ended in the staff room in a fit of tears. Glad no one else was there, she slammed the door and collapsed against the wall, which she slid down and landed on the ground in tears.  
  
"Oh, h...how c...c..could he do th...that?" she sobbed, burying her face in her hands.  
  
"I...I...I th...th..thought I luh...loved him! How could I be so guh...guh...goddamned stupid?" she choked out.  
  
Dia cried for a few moments before she heard somebody's throat being cleared. She lifted her head and gasped. Her gaze fell on the man with the dark blue robes, sandy hair graying at the edges, and the now crinkly smile turned into a look of worry.  
  
"Excuse me, Miss, but are you alright?" he asked, taking a step towards her.  
  
Dia nodded her head, but fresh tears came with it. She immedialty felt stupid. Plighter must have been in there the whole time and heard all her sobbing.  
  
"I...I'm sorry," she apologized for her tears.  
  
Plighter stepped nearer to her, his crinkly smile taking it's usual place on his face. "Not at all, Miss....Diamond."  
  
Dia looked up to see that he held out a hankerchief. She forced a smile and took it. "Th...thank you," she sniffled.  
  
"My pleasure," Plighter replied, offering his hand. Dia took it and he pulled her to her feet.  
  
Dia wiped her tear-filled eyes and offered the handkerchief back, but Plighter motioned for her to keep it.  
  
"Thank you, Professor Plighter," Dia gratefully said.  
  
As Dia dried her eyes, Plighter said cheerfully, "You know, Miss Diamond, I have been inside all day and it seems so beautiful out. Would you mind occompaning me on a walk of the grounds?"  
  
Dia sniffled once more before agreeing.  
  
The pair walked out the main entrance of Hogwarts, and when she stepped outside the cold air chilled Dia to her bones.  
  
She fell into step beside Plighter, who looked at the grounds like a child in a candy store.  
  
"It's very beautiful out," he said dreamily.  
  
"Yes," Dia agreed.  
  
They walked for a few moments in silence, when Plighter asked, "Forgive me, Miss Diamond, for asking, but are you not supposed to be assisting Professor Snape in Potions at this very moment?"  
  
Dia's face heated up as the mentioning of Snape's name brought a mixture of anger and saddness. She nodded slowly. "I am, Professor Prighter..."  
  
"But you're just playing hookey from Professor Snape's class, eh, Miss Diamond?" his crinkly smile taking over his face and his green eyes glinting.  
  
Dia felt herself drawn into his eyes. They seemed so familiar..."Yes, Professor, something like that..."  
  
"I pray, Miss Diamond, I do not think we are strangers anymore. Please, call me Wichard," Plighter asked.  
  
"Oh, yes, Prof...I mean, Wichard. Please, call me Dia," she replied.  
  
Plighter raised his head in the air. "Dia...Dia...very pretty name. But you say mine like Voldemort's."  
  
Dia halted in her tracks and flinched at Voldemort's name. Plighter turned around to look at her, his expression puzzled, as though he had done nothing wrong. "I daresay, Dia, but have I offended you in any way?"  
  
Dia forced herself to shake her head and continue walking. "No, no, Profes...Wichard. Not at all."  
  
Plighter's smile widened. "Oh, but my dear Dia, I know I have. I said Voldemort." Dia flinched again and he laughed at this. "I know, my dear, I use his name lightly. But you say my name like his. 'Prof...Wichard.' Like you are correcting yourself. Most people who are just learning to fear Voldemort (Dia flinched again) say his name as 'Volde...You-Know-Who. They are always catching themselves...always catching themselves."  
  
A odd sensation ran down Dia's spine. She didn't like the way Plighter used You-Know-Who's name so lightly. As if it meant nothing at all. She suddenly wished she wasn't walking with him. She'd rather be in Potions than walking with him.  
  
As though he wish came true, Plighter cried, "Oh, look, Dia, we are back at the beginning."  
  
Dia looked up, to see the entrance of Hogwarts again. Relief coursed through her.  
  
Plighter looked at the Muggle wrist watch he wore."Well, Miss Dia, it was wonderful company, and I wish I could stay, but I musn't tarry for my next Defense Against the Dark Arts class starts soon."  
  
"Yes, indeed, Professor Plighter," Dia murmured.  
  
Plighter took hand and slowly kissed it--again. Dia wanted to yank it out of his grasp. He stared at her with his capturing emerald eyes. "Good day, Miss Dia," he said, as he spun on his heel and disapeared into the castle, leaving Dia in the snow with a unsetteling feeling.  
  
*******  
  
Thanks to the likes of Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley, the Snape/Miss Diamond affair just got more elaborate by the minute.  
  
That night, at dinner, as Malfoy explained it:  
  
"You wouldn't believe it," he swore in a drawling voice. "But during the Yule Ball I took Pansy outside to get some fresh air. She said she wanted to get away from all the snogging couples, so I took her to the lake, and you wouldn't believe it, but Snape and Diamond were snogging on a bench near the lake!"  
  
This got assorted gasps from the Slytherin House table. Malfoy continued, smiling, "Yes, I swear to it! And, the next morning, Crabbe said that he was wandering the halls and he swore that as he was in one hallway, the Professors' hallway, he saw Snape and Diamond sneak out of out his bedroom! How do you like that!"  
  
The Slytherins burst into laughter and Pansy filled in for Malfoy. "That Dia Diamond is such a tramp. You know she is sleeping with Snape just to get a job at Hogwarts..."  
  
Over at the Gryffindor table, the story Ron Weasly told was a bit different. "I mean, it's not right! All those blasted Slytherins making Miss Diamond to look like some tramp or somethin'. When you know it's that overgrown bat Snape that's forcing himself on her!"  
  
That drew murmurs of agreement from the Gryffindors.  
  
At the same time, the majority of the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses looked at the High Table to Severus Snape and Dia Diamond.  
  
The Potions Master and his assistant sat in their regular seats, next to each other. Dia looked ravishing as ever, as she ate in silence, and Snape looked as sullen as ever, as he, too, ate in silence--silence that lasted the rest of dinner.  
  
********  
  
That night, he thought to himself. Tomorrow I must do it. Tomorrow and not a day later. 


	16. Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN  
  
The following morning, after the fourth-year Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw Potions class had ended, Snape hurried out the door with the last student, leaving Dia alone. She sighed and filed into Snape's office, getting the ingrediants ready for the Gryffindor-Slytherin seventh year class. As she reached for the jar that contained the eye of newt, she noticed something odd. The ingrediants lacewing flies, leeches, fluxwood, knotgrass, powdered horn of bicorn, and shredded skin of boomslang were running low--lower than yesterday. Since a little after Christmas, those certain potion ingresiants had been slowly missing. Dia had thought nothing of it, but now she had the feeling that someone was breaking into Snape's private stores. And the funny thing was those ingrediants made Polyjuice Potion, a potion of transfiguration.  
  
Dia shook off the silly notion as she reached for the jar that held the eye of newt. "Silly girl, who would want to break into his private stores?  
  
*******  
  
Albus Dumbledore was in his offfice that afternoon, petting his Phoenix Fawkes, when he heard the frantic knocks on his door.  
  
"Please, do come in!" he said, as Fawkes gave a squwak and flew to his perch.  
  
The doors swung open and Professor Sprout, looking rather distressed, came in.  
  
"Why, hello, Lyla," Dumbledore said warmly.  
  
He smiled at Sprout, but the worried look she gave him wiped it off his face. "What is it, Lyla?"  
  
Sprout took a seat, and looked over her shoulder, as though expecting someone else to show.  
  
Dumbledore began to worry. "What is it?"  
  
"Professor," Sprout started in a low voice, "it's bad."  
  
"What's bad, Professor Sprout, what?" Dumbledore inquired.  
  
Sprout motioned to a crumpled piece of parchment she held in her hand.  
  
"What's that?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"Alright," Professor Sprout started very quietly, "Alright. I was tending to the greenhouses today when I found that the Venus Fly Trap was very sick looking. It was dying. I didn't want the poor thing just to waste away, and I knew the only cure for it was some herbs that Professor Snape kept in his provate store of potion ingrediants. Well, I went into the dungeons looking for him, wanting to ask him if he could spare some of the herb, but I found the classroom empty. I went to his office anyway and tried it. I knew he usually locked it, but this time it was opened. I don't know if he had left it open of if Miss Diamond did. Anyway, I went into his office..."  
  
Dumbledore gave her a stern look.  
  
Sprout threw up her hands. "I knew I shouldn't have, Albus, but I did. The Fly Trap was going to die and I needed the herb right away. So I went into his office and started hunting for the herb. I was looking, when I heard someone enter the classroom. I kept quiet because I didn't want Severus to think I was snooping through any of his private things. It was Severus. I was surprised that he didn't see me becuase the door to his office was wide open and he walked right past it. Anyhow, he sat at his desk and pulled out a quill and parchment. He looked around the room to see if no one was there, and when he was satisfied he started writing a letter..."  
  
She stopped midway and Dumbledore urged her to go on.  
  
Sprout looked at him, sadly. "I don't know how or why. But Severus wrote his letter. He murmured what he read to himself, and threw the first copy in the rubbish, not happy with it. He wrote a second copy, he same thing, give or take a few words, tucked it into his pocket and left the classroom. I...I was so stunned..."  
  
"What did the letter say, Lyla?" Dumbledore quietly asked.  
  
Sprout handed the letter to him. "I still can't believe it. Severus..."  
  
Dumbledore uncrumpled the letter and read it outloud. "To Whom it May Concern...  
  
To Whom It May Concern:  
  
It was a setback with Diamond's death, but I'm sure that we can arrange another rally. We must bring Voldemort to power again. Contact Malfoy and see what he thinks of this idea. But DO NOT send any owls to me with important messages. If we want to have another rally to bring The Master to power again, Dumbledore nor anyone else on the Light Side must find out about this. Good luck.  
  
S. Snape  
  
S. Snape"  
  
Dumbledore set the letter down and his office became very quiet. He shook his head. "I do not believe that Severus wrote this. He has renounced all commections with Voldemort..."  
  
Sprout looked like she could cry. "I don't believe it either, Headmaster. But I saw him. I saw him..."  
  
Dumbledore shook his head sadly. He looked like he had aged drastically over the past few seconds. "Severus, Severus, Severus...I must summon him to my office."  
  
******  
  
Snape sat frozen, bewildered, shocked, stunned in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's office as the Headmaster reread the letter.  
  
When he finished, Dumbledore lay the letter on his desk and looked at Snape with solemn eyes. "Did you write this letter, Severus?"  
  
"Of COURSE not, Headmaster! You know that I have no connection with He-Who-Should-Be-Named anymore!" Snape cried.  
  
"But Professor Sprout claims she saw you with her own eyes writing the letter," Dumbledore said.  
  
"You...you don't believe that, Headmaster, do you? Have I not proved myself enough to the Light Side? I would never want to help He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named rise to power again!" Snape exclaimed.  
  
Dumbledore looked like he despretly wanted to know who to believe. Professor Sprout or Professor Snape. It was one professors word against the other.  
  
"What really happened then, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
Snape tried to summon a response, the response that would set things straight again. But, as he try, he could only draw a blank. Like it never happened. "I...I don't know, Professor."  
  
Dumbledore sighed deeply as he rose from his desk and walked over to Snape. "I am very sorry about this, Severus. But it's one professor's word against another."  
  
"Headmaster?" Snape asked, confused.  
  
"Severus, may I see the vial of Vertiaserum that you wear around your neck?" the old Headmaster asked.  
  
Snape grudgily unclasp a chain that he wore under his robes and handed the small vial full of the clear potion to Dumbledore.  
  
Dumbledore opened the tiny lid. "The Vertiaserum will tell us who is telling the truth."  
  
Snape slowly opened his mouth and Dumbledore placed three drops in it. Snape's eye lids drooped, and his breathing subdued. After a moment, they fluttered open though. He didn't blink, looking like he was in a trance.  
  
The Hogwarts Inquisition began.  
  
"Severus, did you write the letter?" Dumbledore got straight to the point.  
  
"Yes, Headmaster, I wrote the letter."  
  
Dumbledore looked beyond shocked. "Why?"  
  
"Why, Headmaster, I want The Master to rise to power again."  
  
"You mean to tell me you never left the Dark Side?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You are still a Death Eater?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"But why did you pretend that you had joined the Light Side again?"  
  
"Because, Headmaster, how else would the Dark Side get information from the Light Side but to have a Death Eater still loyal to The Master act as though they converted? I have been feeding the Dark Side information for all these years."  
  
Dumbledore had had enough. He said an incantation and the Vertiaserum wore off. Snape woke out of his daze. His gaze connected with Dumbledor's sad eyes.  
  
"Severus, I would never had thought..." Dumbledore said quietly.  
  
"What do you mean, Headmaster, do you still think that I wrote that letter?" Snape exclaimed.  
  
"It's no use pretending anymore, Severus. I cannot believe that you would have betrayed my trust like that..." Dumbledore said, his voice filling with anger.  
  
Snape jumped out of his chair. "But I did not write that bloody letter, Headmaster!"  
  
"Do you dare tell me that the Vertiaserum was lying?" Dumbledore asked, trying to control his voice.  
  
Snape was at a loss for an answer. "No...yes...I don't know! All I know is that I didn't write that letter!"  
  
Dumbledore shook his head. "I do not think I can trust you anymore, Severus. Please leave Hogwarts at once."  
  
Severus Snape felt as though the world had just dropped from underneath him. Leave Hogwarts?  
  
Dia Diamond's mind completely eruptured as she pulled her ear away from the door. She still could not comprehend the conversation she had just heard.  
  
She had been on her way to the hospital wing (she felt alfully nauseaous--perhaps the flu) when she got sidetracked to Dumbledore's office to ask about ordering some new supplies of lacewing flies and leeches when she heard the voices from inside. Not wanting to intrude, she pressed her ear to the door an instantly regretted it.  
  
She had heard Snape's whole confession under the power of the Vertiaserum.  
  
The final words she heard was Dumbledore's command for Snape to leave Hogwarts. Leave Hogwarts. She couldn't comprehend what that meant.  
  
As she searched for the meaning of it, the doors to Dumbledore's office flew open, almost causing her to fall to the ground.  
  
She had never known Albus Dumbledore to be angry at any time in his long life, but he was now. His face, a dull red, was a stark contrast with his dazzling white beard. Snape was exiting the office. He made eye contact with Dia and looked extremly pale under his black robes.  
  
"How long have you been standing there, Miss Diamond?" Dumbledore demanded.  
  
Dia turned her gaze to Dumbledore. "I...I...I just go here, Headmaster..."  
  
She turned back to Snape. He clamped his hands on her shoulders.  
  
"Severus, now!" Dumbledore growled.  
  
Snape lowered his mouth to Dia's ear. "I love you, Dia. You know I didn't do it. You know it!"  
  
"Now, Severus!" Dumbledore said, trying to steady his voice.  
  
Snape released Dia and walked down the corridor. He spun around. "You know I didn't do it!" he hollered, before he disappeared around the corner.  
  
Now left alone, Dumbledore sighed heavily and the doors to his office slammed unhappily. Dia stood alone. Tears gushed down her cheeks as she whispered, "I know you didn't." 


	17. Chapter Seventeen

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN  
  
As the week passed, a shadow seemed to have fallen on Hogwarts, although only three people knew the true reason.  
  
Dumbledore didn't seem his jovial self. He was quiet and went about quite aged.  
  
Poor Professor Sprout cried everytime she saw Dumbledore or Snape's empty seat at the High Table. She said she felt awful becuase she knew she was to blame for Snape's leaving Hogwarts. Dumbledore had to soothe her by saying it was all the better that she found Snape out.  
  
Dia was quietly promoted to Potions Mistress. It was explained to the students that Professor Snape had left Hogwarts to persue a career in the Ministry of Magic. Although many students didn't buy the lame excuse (what professor in his right mind would lower himself in status to work at a desk for the Ministry of Magic?) they had to accept it. And many just didn't care. The majority of the students were just ectatic that Snape had left Hogwarts for good. No more of his snide remarks and nasty comments.  
  
But the week for Dia wasn't to grand. The last words Snape had uttered to her (I love you, Dia You know I didn't do it You know it) clouded her head constantly. She felt so confused and torn in half. On one hand, she had heard Snape confess underVertiaserum, for heaven's sake. But did she really believe that in her heart? She had mixed feelings for Severus Snape. Did she love him or not?  
  
Things came to a head one night when Dia Diamond decided she could't take Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Headmaster Albus Dumbledore) any longer. She packed a few of her belongins and snuck down the the Potions classroom for a few important ingrediants that she wanted to take with her.  
  
When Dia reached the dark classroom, she dropped her bag by her (Snape's) desk and went over to the general supply stores of ingerdiants, which lined the back wall. She was rummaging for dried seaweed when she heard footsteps echoing in the stairwell.  
  
Dia immediatly dropped down so she couldn't be seen but could have a clear view of the door. (It wouldn't help getting caught by one of the professors at this hour.)  
  
The footsteps grew louder, and finally she saw a silhouette of a figure standing in the doorway. The figure scanned the dark classroom, and, seeming satisfied, walked over to Snape's old office.  
  
I wonder who that is and why are they going in Snape's office? Dia wondered.  
  
She heard an incantaion muttered, and the doors opened.  
  
Crouching low, Dia crept closer to the open office. She hid behind the desk. There was the sound of rummaging in the office, and finally it stopped. The figure appeared and muttered a counter-incantation to lock the office. They then left the classroom.  
  
Curiosity got the best of Dia and she decided to follow the figure. Staying at a safe distance, she followed the strange figure down, down deeper into the Hogwarts dungeons. Dia hadn't thought that the dungeons of Hogwarts could be so vast. Finally, after what seemed like walking for hours to Dia, the twisting, stonelines steps ended and opened into a dark room.  
  
The figure took out a wand a whispered something, and immediatly the light of their wand lit up into bright blue flames.  
  
Dia could tell by the soft lighting of the figure that it was a man by the broad shoulders. She was suddenly overcome with fear and happiness as a name popped into her head--Severus?  
  
With her heard beating quickly and her head feeling like it was about to explode, Dia decided she had to confront whoever the figure was. She silently crept up behind the man and quickly said, "Severus?"  
  
The man gasped and turned around. There was a crash of the potion ingrediants on the stone floor. Dia was astonished when she saw the distoreted, surreal features of Plighter in the blue light.  
  
The blue light on Plighter's wand immediatly went out.  
  
She fumbled for her wand and cried, "Lumos!"  
  
Now it was Dia's turn to gasp. "Father?" 


	18. Chapter Eighteen

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  
  
Dia could have never forgotten the face that stood before her, illuminated by the soft glow of the blue light. For dressed in Plighter's dark blue robes was none other than her father--Arthur Diamond.  
  
Dia shut her eyes and then opened them again.  
  
This is a dream, Diamond! Dia's mind raced. This is not goddamn happening!  
  
But her father's haunting face with his sneering smile loomed in front of her.  
  
"Why, hello, daughter," Arthur Diamond snarled.  
  
Dia could only sputter. "But...but..but..."  
  
Diamond's smile widened. "But I'm supposed to be dead, right?"  
  
Dia slowly nodded as Diamond took his focus off her and looked around the dark room. "It's a bit dark in here, don't you think, daughter? Perhaps we need some more light. Lumos Totalus!" At Arthur Diamond's command, the room was illuminated by blindingly white light coming from the ceiling.  
  
Dia had to adjust to the light and her gaze fell onto her father. "You're supposed to be dead, you sick fuck. Dead in fucking Azkaban!" she screeched.  
  
Diamond furrowed his brow. "Tut, tut, little Dialeste. Such naughty words you learned from the Muggle world."  
  
Dia narrowed her eyes in sheer anger. "I had to go to the Muggle world. Do you really think I was going to stay and take all your bloody Dark Side bullshit?"  
  
Diamond sneered. "No, you were always too weak to accept the ways of The Master. Just like you mother. Poor Andromena, when I married her she didn't know what she was getting into. She married Professor Arthur C. Diamond, Defense Aginst the Dark Arts teacher at ickle Hogwarts..."  
  
"She thought you were on the Light Side! Ba! You used your position to give information about Dumbledore to that great fucking prat Voldemort! How could you do that to Dumbledore? He is the most kindest man..."  
  
"Bite your tongue, you little bitch!" Diamond snapped. "I was smart. I knew Dumbledore was a sucker enough to believe that there was no man alived oposed to The Master than me. I held that position for many long years, and all the while The Master just got stronger..."  
  
"That's the exact reason I disappeared! I knew that you murdered mother because the promised to tell the secret of your dedication of Voldemort to Dumbledore, so you killed her! Do you really think I was about to stay and obey Voldemort?" Dia cried.  
  
"No, but you sure as bloody left your ickle brother alone in my care!" Diamond snapped.  
  
Dia's eyes filled with tears. "You know I love Dunner, you great prat! I love him! I thought maybe he was strong enough to hold out against you..."  
  
"But here I am again, daughter. Here I am. My soul hasn't been sucked away from the Kiss of Death..."  
  
"How?"  
  
"How what?"  
  
"How did you escape?" Dia gritted through tears.  
  
"Oh, daughter, that was rather simple," Diaond said smugly. "I fancy I served The Master too vehemantly, and he wanted to rid of me. As if all I'd done didn't matter. I heard news of a plot that The Master was going to call a false rally of select Death Eaters. I would be one of those Death Eaters. While there, the other Death Eaters were to murder me. But I was wise wnough I find out about this before it happened. I employed a naive man, Wichard Plighter..."  
  
"Professor Plighter," Dia murmured.  
  
"Indeed, the very same," Diamond said nonchalantly. "I coaxed him to switch places with me the night of the false rally. He was so bloody stupid he did. I concoted a mixture of Polyjuice Potion and he and I drank it. He became me and I became him. I wanted to get back at the foes who had betrayed me, so I sent a notice to the Light Side saying that there was to be a rally of Death Eaters to make The Master stronger. It worked. They got what they deserved. All of them. All Death Eaters present that night got the Kiss of Death--even Plighter disguised as me.And here I was, avenged as the innocent bystander Wichard Plighter!"  
  
Diamond let out a laugh that chilled Dia to the bone.  
  
"I had to drink a goblet of Polyjuice Potion each morning to retain the form of Plighter. And I did. I spend several years wandering about until I heard news that you were teaching at Hogwarts. I daresay, my der, but you left me a little angry when you just disapeared and I was determined to track you down. And I found you. Potions assistant to Severus fucking Snape.  
  
"I rather fancied having the Defense Against the Dark Arts position back. And it was gold to see that poor ickle Snapey had lost out on it. But then I got angry. I started to hear, ahem, rumors about you and Snape. That you were, how shall I say, fucking?" Diamond spat.  
  
"How dare you say that!" Dia screeched. "I loved him!"  
  
Dia bit her tongue and realized what she had said to her father.  
  
Diamond's face became crimson and his green eyes flashed. "Why you little bitch! How could you love such a man? He betrayed The Master..."  
  
"No he didn't!" Dia exclaimed. "He is still a Death Eater! He was caught writing a letter about Voldemort..."  
  
Diamond smugly smiled and took a mock bow.  
  
"You!" Dia hissed.  
  
"Yes, again, daughter, me," he spat. "I thought, why not kill two birds with one stone. He needed his dose of medicine. No one betrays The Master and gets away with it."  
  
Dia was stunned. She didn't know what to say.  
  
Diamond looked around the dungeon. "Well, daughter, let me be the first to tell you that there will be no more Lod Voldemort. There will only be Lord Diamond."  
  
"What do you mean?" Dia cried.  
  
"I mean, child," his green eyes flashing. "I have had enough of Voldemort's betrayles. I was faithful to him the majority of my life and how does he repay me, byt attempting to murder me! Well, Arthur Diamond won't forgive and forget this time, no no. I am to summon Voldemort here for a wizard's duel, to the death."  
  
Dia couldn't believe what this man was saying? He was going to summon Voldemort, here? To a wizard's duel to the death? Had he gone completely insane? Voldemort could never die...  
  
But it was too late. Diamond took out his wand and started to pace the room. A bizarre smile crossed his mouth. "VOLDEMORT! VOLDEMORT YOU SISSY LITTLE PRAT! LETS SEE YOU KNOW! ARTHUR DIAMOND IS BACK! SHOW YOURSELF!"  
  
Dia's wish came true. Voldemort didn't show. Diamond began to get furious. "Perhaps he needs a little bate, daughter."  
  
Dia watched, afraid of what her father was going to do. Diamond whispered the summoning charm, and out of thin air Severus Snape appeared in the room.  
  
Snape, looking a wreck, looked around the room wildly. His hair was dissheveld and looked as though he hadn't shaven in a week.  
  
"SEVERUS!" Dia shrieked from the corner of the dungeon.  
  
Snape jerked his head towards her. "DIA!" he cried, preparing to run towards her, but Diamond bellowed "(fill in with paralyzing charm)" and Snape let out a groan of immense pain.  
  
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Dia screamed.  
  
But Diamond didn't listen. Snape's limbs twisted into impossible positions as his wails of agony echoed throughout the stonelined room.  
  
"NO!" Dia screeched, running to Snape's side, but Diamond pointed his wand at her and she felt her hands and feet being bound tightly to a wooden pole that had been erected out of thin air.  
  
Snape's cries filled her ears as Dia's screams continued. Diamond finally became so disgusted with her than he bellowed an incantation that bound her mouth shut.  
  
"Shut-up, you twit!" he hissed.  
  
Diamond looked around the room, a bizarre smile on his face, ignoring Snape's wails of agony or his daughter's struggles to free herself.  
  
"WELL, VOLDEMORT, LOOK WHAT I HAVE! A DEATH EATER THAT BETRAYED YOU!" Diamond hollered.  
  
Suddenly, a breeze began to pick up in the dungeons, ruffling hair and robes.  
  
"IS THAT YOU, VOLDEMORT?" Diamond asked.  
  
The breeze became heavier, and nearly knocked Diamond off his feet. Diamond undid the paralyzing curse on Snape and said the spell which bound him to the same pole as Dia.  
  
The wind was now rocketing around the room, whipping Dia's long hair in Snape's face.  
  
"HUM HUM HUM?" Dia futily tried to ask through her bound mouth.  
  
"VOLDEMORT'S ARRIVING! SHUT YOUR EYES! DON'T OPEN THEM! WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T OPEN THEM!" Snape bellowed over the howls of the wind.  
  
Dia did as Snape commanded her, and shut her eyes tight, as he. She could feel his fingers despretly search for hers as they stood bound to the pole.  
  
Diamond let out a loud noise which seemed like a stung-out laugh over the wind. All of a sudden, a bright stream of green light flashed through the entrance to the dungeon.  
  
"COME ON, YOU COWARD, FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" Diamond bellowed as the green light swirled around him.  
  
Dia could feel the bolts of light streak through her. Her voice rose in silent cries with Snape's.  
  
"COME ON, YOU COWARD, FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" was the last words Dia heard out of Arthur Diamond before the wails of the wind and green light over took him.  
  
The green light disappeared out the entrance of the dungeon as quickly it had appeared.  
  
She could hear Snape telling her to open her eyes, but she didn't get the chance to. The last thing she saw was the blackness before she blacked out. 


	19. Chapter Nineteen

CHAPTER NINTEEN  
  
Dia groggily opened her eyes to see blinding white. When her sight had adjusted, she found she was in the hospital wing.  
  
She immedaitly sat up. All the memories flooded back to her. Panic flowed over her.  
  
Was Snape alright? What had happened to her father?  
  
She was ready to jump out of bed when she heard faint voices. "...I don't know. Dumbledore, I think she's woken up!"  
  
She heard the frantic rush of footsteps, and Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey appeared.  
  
Madam Pomfrey got to her first. She couldn't help beaming. "Oh, you poor dear! I thought you would never wake up! You had me so worried! Do you feel alright?"  
  
Dia slowly nodded her head. She felt alright except for the nauseating feeling that had swept her before.  
  
"Wha...what happened?" she asked.  
  
Dumbledore stepped forward. "I think I can answer that for you, Miss Diamond."  
  
"Is...alright?"  
  
"Yes, Miss Diamond. Severus is fine."  
  
"Severus! But it wasn't him..." Dia cried.  
  
Dumbledore smiled. "I know, Miss Diamond."  
  
"But how?" Dia asked.  
  
"I have my ways," Dumbledore winked at her.  
  
McGonagall soon stood near Dia's bed, shaking her head. "I still cannot believe that Arthur Diamond did such horrible things..."  
  
Dia eagerly nodded. "Beleive it, Professor McGonagall. I had to deal with that secret all my life. That's why I ran away...I couldn't take the burden anymore."  
  
McGonagall could only give a reassuring smile to the girl.  
  
"Arthur Diamond?" Dia asked, not calling him 'father.'  
  
"Arthur Diamond was another of Voldemort's victim's that night. I am surprised that you and Severus survived..." Dumbledore said.  
  
"Severus!" Dia cried. "Where is he?"  
  
Dumbledore smiled quietly. "Severus was released from the hospital wing a few days ago."  
  
"A few days ago?" Dia incredulusly asked.  
  
Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Yes, dear. You have been in here for a whole week now. Out of pure exhaustion, I daresay. Professor Snape, as Dumbledore said, was released a few days ago. He wasn't as battered as you."  
  
"But you know he didn't write the letter?" Dia asked.  
  
"Yes, my dear, I know. I have reinstated Severus with my full apologies as Defense Aginst the Dark Arts Master..."  
  
"But, why did the Vertiaserum lie?"  
  
Dumbledore sighed. "The only reason i can conclude is that Arthur erased Severus' memory and then recreated it, making it seem that Severus' wrote the letter after all."  
  
"But if he's the Defense Against the Dark Arts Master..." Dia started.  
  
"Then that makes you Potions Mistress," Dumbledore smiled.  
  
Dia relished in this glory for a moment, but she exclaimed, "Where is Severus?"  
  
A warm look crossed Dumbledore's face. "I had Professor McGonagall go a fetch him a few minutes ago. I was sure that he would want to see you."  
  
Dia's eyes darted to the spot where McGonagall had been. True to his word, she wasn't there.  
  
The three waited in silence, until the doors to the hospital wing banged open. All sets of eyes watched as Snape strode in, his robes billowing behind him, McGonagall following.  
  
When he saw Dia, his stride quickened and he cried, "Oh, Dia."  
  
He reached her bed and fell to his knees beside it. He took her chin in his grasp and his lips touched hers, interlocked a passionate kiss.  
  
Snape didn't break away until Dumbledore cleared his throat. Dia looked around, McGonagall looked a bit awkward and Madam Pomfrey had a look on her face to say awh-how-cute-they-are-in-love!  
  
Dumbledore backed away from the bed.  
  
Snape clasped Dia's hand and gazed into her eyes. "Are you alright? I was so worried."  
  
"I'm fine," Dia answered, smiling, but groaned when she felt a wave of nausea coming over her again. "Except..."  
  
Madam Pomfrey stepped forward. "Except for the nausea?"  
  
Dia looked stunned at her. "How did you know?"  
  
"Becuase," Madam Pomfrey said, her smile widening. "When I examined you, I found that...that you are pregnant."  
  
A silent gasp rippled through the room and Dia and Snape immediatly snapped their heads to look at each other. Dia wasn't sure how Snape would take the news, but all doubts melted when she saw the look in his eyes.  
  
Dia Diamond felt she could stay in that everlasting glance with that man forever. 


	20. Epilogue

EPLOUGE  
  
The harsh winter winds melted into the warm spring breeze. Finals loomed unthinkably close to Hogwarts students. The idea of another summer away from Hogwarts also was in the near future.  
  
After a quiet cerimony in Hogsmeade in Feburary (February 14th to be exact,) Dia now found her self Mrs. Dia Snape, and although it didn't roll of the tongue like Dia Diamond did, she found she rather fancied it better.  
  
The prospect of a baby in late September only made Dia and Snape's bond closer. (Dia despretly hoped for a girl, which she would name Albee, after the greatest Headmaster she had ever know.)  
  
All those silly rumors about the Yule Ball had finally been put to rest as students (mostly the males) tried to cope with the fact that their Miss Diamond had gone and married Severus Snape.  
  
Dia was thankful that she could get over the ghosts her father created all through out her childhood and early adult life. She was at a place of her life she never wanted change to happen to.  
  
Well, maybe she would change that dratted Draco Mlfoy who had now changed his story of the Yule Ball's snogging of Snape and she to he and she were snogging. Lucky her, no one believed him.  
  
THE END 


End file.
